


Short one-shots

by myqueenyoursavior



Series: Tumblr prompts [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Banter, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2018-08-08 20:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 24,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7772038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myqueenyoursavior/pseuds/myqueenyoursavior





	1. You’ve been pouting ever since I went out on that date, what’s up?

Regina looks blankly at her date in front of her; he had insisted to pick her up at the mansion, and now she was stuck in his car after the most boring date she has ever had.  
She is really trying not to fall asleep at the endless babbling, so she had decided to stare at a mole on his neck that looks particularly big.  
Her concentration on the spot on his neck has her almost miss him trying to lean in to kiss her goodnight. She didn’t even realize he had finished talking about his car, or that he had said the words “good night”.

“What are you doing?” exclaims Regina, dodging him at the last moment.

“Kissing you!” says her date, in a matter of fact.

“Do you think this was a date worth of a good night kiss?” asks her, outraged.

“I thought…” starts the guy, buy Regina is already out of the car and slamming the door in his face.

“Peasant,” she thinks under her breath, before starting to walk toward her house.

She can’t wait to get to her home, where Henry and Emma are waiting for her. Regina had asked the other mother of his child to stay at their house for the night, ignoring Henry’s protests on the matter. He had been running from home way too often lately, Regina didn’t want to risk him doing that again.  
Emma had even agreed not to bring guy-liner over the house; when she had mentioned to the sheriff that the pirate was a bad influence for the kid, and he shouldn’t have put foot in her house, Emma had just shrugged. She even looked a bit relieved at the arrangement. That until she had heard the reason why she was supposed to take an eye on the kid for the night.  
Emma… her, she would listen babbling about anything and never get boring. Not that the blonde talked as much as this guy did, but with the Charmings’ genes, she is bound to babble a lot. But Regina really doesn’t mind, whether she is talking about all the things she is discovering about fairy-tale land, about something happening at the station, or her childhood stories. Of course what she minds hearing about is guy-liner, but she doesn’t really talk about him that much, now that she thinks about it.  
Regina smiles to herself at the thought.

* * *

 

“Kid, is that your mom’s date’s car?” asks Emma, her face almost becoming one with the window.

“I don’t know,” says Henry, pausing the game for the hundredth time that night “You promised you’d play with me.”

“After your mom gets home,” says the blonde in a voice the kid can’t fully detect “Can you come check too? It’s too dark for me to tell.”

“Okay,” he says, getting up reluctant “But you awe me at least 3 more rounds.”

“Sure,” she replies, a bit to distracted by what’s happening outside.

As soon as Henry approaches the window, the street light above the car starts working again.

“Ew,” he exclaims, taking a step back “did you call me to watch mom kiss that dude?”

“It is her, isn’t she?” says Emma, happy she recognized the car, but her tone changes immediately when she realizes what he just said “Kissing? She was kissing the guy??”

“Ma,” says Henry, putting a hand on his mother’s shoulder “Why are you spying on mom’s date?”

“I… hmmm…”

“And most importantly, why couldn’t you see even with the light on?”

“I lost my last pair of contact lenses this morning,” she admits “and I didn’t want your mother to see me in my old pair of glasses.”

“Why?” he asks, before ducking down and adding: “She is coming in. Act normal, well as normal as you can be.”

“Thanks, kid,” she says before ducking down too, and following his lead toward the couch.

* * *

 

Regina is too immersed in her own thoughts to really notice her surroundings, but when she is close enough to the front door, she focuses on the house in front of her, and… She was sure she had seen two faces near the living room’s windows, and a moment later, the curtains moving quickly.

“Odd,” she thinks to herself “why would Henry or Emma be spying on her? They are probably too busy playing video games and eating junk food.”

She just shakes her head at the thought, and takes her keys out of her purse.

As soon as she gets in the living room, both heads turn around toward her.

“Hey, mom,” exclaims Henry enthusiastically, he has already forgotten being opposed to Emma keeping an eye on him.

Emma after giving out a huge smile at the sight of the brunette, she just lifts her chin toward her, and start pouting again.

Regina sits on the armchair next to the couch, her eyes still focused on the blonde’s face, while removing her stilettos.

“So, mom,” says Henry, pausing the game again “How was your date?”

“It was ho…” she is about to admit how horrible it really was, when she notices Emma’s pouting increasing “It was great, actually.”

“It was?” exclaim both mother and son at the same time.

“Yeah,” says Regina, massaging her foot “is there a problem with that?”

“No,” he says, before resuming his game, before her mom starts talking about the kiss.

Emma just shrugs in response.

“What is wrong with you?” asks the brunette, she can’t take this situation anymore.

“Me?” asks Emma, looking around toward the kid, who seems too focused on the game to notice or care.

“Yeah, you,” says Regina “ **You’ve been pouting ever since I went out on that date, what’s up?** ”

Emma’s initial reaction is to smile at Regina using the words “what’s up”, but she is too upset by her going on the date to let it show.

“Nothing is up with me,” she protests.

Henry, who has been listening closely, starts thinking: ma kept asking when mom would come home, she spied on her from the window, she didn’t want mom to see her with her old glasses on, and she had been in a weird mood ever since she said she was going on a date: BINGO!!!

“I know what is up with her,” exclaims Henry too enthusiastically for having solved the puzzle.

Emma just gives him a long hard stare, which has no effect on the kid since he is used to his other mother’s much more powerful ones.

“Okay, Henry,” says Regina turning toward her kid, almost amused “What is up with Emma?

“Kid,” Emma almost whispers now “don’t.”

“Henry!” says the brunette in a firm voice.

“She has a crush on you,” shrugs Henry “or however you weird adults call it when you like someone.”

“Kid,” says the blonde under her breath, sinking a bit lower into the couch.

“You have a crush on me?” asks Regina, surprised.

“She does!” answers Henry in her place.

“Henry, let Miss Swan answer for herself,” says Regina, knowing too well the Miss Swan would get to her.

“Still with this Miss Swan thing?” says Emma, re-positioning herself on the couch, and looking straight into Regina’s eyes “I told you I have a name!”

“Okay, Em-ma,” says the brunette smirking “tell me, is it true what our son just said? Do you have a crush on me?”

“I do,” says Emma, her face turning as red as usual leather jacket “what does it matter? We saw you kissing the guy in the car.”

“You saw…?” asks Regina, raising her eyebrow “the both of you?”

“She made me look out the window,” says Henry quickly “I didn’t want to see you kissing him. Ew. If she hadn’t been too embarrassed to show up in her glasses, she would have seen it on her own.”

“I’m not mad at you, Henry,” reassures Regina “I just wasn’t kissing him, you mistook what you saw.”

“You didn’t?” say both Henry and Emma at the same time.

“I didn’t,” admits the brunette “Now that I know why Emma has been pouting, I can tell you. The date was horrible. He did try to kiss me, but I didn’t let him.”

“I almost got traumatized for nothing,” says Henry, looking sharply at Emma.

“You’ll survive, kid,” says the blonde toward her son, then turns around toward the brunette and adds: “I am glad you didn’t kiss him.”

“Okay,” says Regina realizing the situation Emma is in “but you are with the pirate. How can you have a crush on me or be jealous of who I date or kiss?”

“Can you stop saying the word “kiss”, please?” says Henry, ignored by both mothers.

“I am not,” admits Emma “I mean, we broke up months ago. He is still around to make my parents happy. Especially dad, I think he is the one with a crush on him.”

“That is definitely out of discussion,” says Regina, giving out a small laugh “even the blind Witch could see Charming’s crush on the guy-liner.”

“Either way,” she continues, with a big smile on her face “You like me, like me?”

“I do,” says Emma, raising her eyebrow at the brunette’s smile “Does that mean you like me to?”

“That is correct,” confesses Regina.

“Kid, I suggest you cover your eyes and ears right now,” says Emma, matching Regina’s smile.

“What? Why?” asks Henry confused.

“Because I am about to kiss your other mother,” she says, getting up from the couch, to take the few steps separating it from the armchair.

“Ew,” says Henry, covering his eyes, but with a even bigger smile on his face at the idea of his two mothers being together.

Regina gets up to meet Emma, and asks: “so, you’re about to kiss me?” with a smirk.

Emma lets her actions speak, and just wraps her arms around the brunette’s waist, and kisses her passionately.

Regina puts her arms around the blonde’s neck, kissing her back with the same intensity. Glad that an evening started so horribly, was ending so wonderfully.


	2. I accidentally called you my girlfriend/boyfriend today.

Emma entered Granny’s diner, and started looking around for Regina. She had just had an important revelation, and wanted to tell the mayor herself, before Snow would. One thing she had learned from their family’s history was to never trust her mother with secrets. Snow would argue that she was a grown up now and secrets weren’t a big deal for her anymore; even David didn’t buy it.

She spotted the brunette at one of the booths a few feet away from the door. She unclenched her fists at either side of her body, took a deep breath, and walked toward it.

“Regina?” she said in an unusual low voice, standing right besides the brunette, who was staring down at the menu.

“Swan,” the brunette said a few minutes later, when she felt eyes on herself “you almost startled me. What are you doing there standing up? Take a sit.”

“Okay,” said the blonde, following the instruction she had just been given.

“So,” started Regina “what was so urgent to have me come to Granny’s for lunch?”

“I have something to tell you,” said Emma, looking anymore but Regina’s direction.

“I got that,” replied the brunette, furrowing her eyebrows “that’s what you said in your text.”

“Okay,” repeated once again the blonde, trying to buy some courage “Iaccidentallycalledyoumygirlfriendtoday.”

“What?” asked Regina, tilting her head “I didn’t get a single word of what you just said.”

“ **I accidentally called you my girlfriend today.** ” said Emma, after a moment of hesitation.

“You did what?” questioned the other woman, her voice reaching an high pitched tone.

“I called you my girlfriend,” said the blonde, Regina’s face making her wish she was anywhere else but there “I can explain.”

“Who did you tell it to?” said Regina the best poker face Emma had ever seen in her life.

“My mother!?”  replied the blonde, preparing herself for was about to come next.

“So, you thought you’d tell me before Snow would?” said Regina, nodding her head “that was very wise of you.”

“Thanks,” said Emma, surprised at not having being yelled at or having Regina poof out on her “there is more…”

“More?” Regina raised her eyebrow, the only movement her face had made so far, she was really amused by the whole thing, but didn’t want to let it show “Go on then, I don’t have all day.”

* * *

  
Emma was sitting on the stool at her parents’ house, her mother had asked her to pass by for breakfast before going to work. “You can go to work with your dad after, like old times, wouldn’t it be fun?” she had said the night before on the phone. Snow didn’t really want to let go of the fact that Emma wasn’t still living with them, so had every excuse to have her pass by.

The sheriff was now staring down at her bowl of cereal, Snow had banned all sugars from the house for some reason, so that meant no bear claws.

“What’s wrong, Emma?” asked her mother, her cheerful voice ringing into the blonde’s head.

“Nothing,” said her daughter “I’m just really sleepy, and need my bear claw.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” said Snow “cereal are better. Healthier.”

“Okay, if you say so,” said Emma, not wanting to start a fight “but I’m still sleepy.”

“Did you go to sleep late again last night?” asked the other, forgetting her daughter wasn’t 15.

“Not that late,” said Emma, yawning “I had a movie night with Henry and Regina.”

“Oh,” exclaimed Snow, sounding disappointed.

“What?”

“You’ve been spending a lot more time with Regina since you moved out of here,” admitted Snow.

“Not that much more,” said the blonde.

“Maybe not,” replied Snow, looking down “but I thought you’d want to spend more time with us. After all I am y…”

“What?” asked again the blonde.

“I am your mother!” Snow finally voicing what had been bothering her lately.

“Well, Regina is my girlfriend,” the world just slipped out.

“She is your what?” exclaimed Snow, letting go of the spoon in her hand.

“No, I meant,” said Emma immediately “she is my friend, who happens to be a girl.”

Snow, after the initial shock from the words that had just come out of her daughter’s mouth, about her former nemesis, she started to see things more clearly.

“Emma?” she said cautiously “I want you to be honest with me for a moment.”

“Okay?” said the blonde, having no idea what the look on her mother’s face meant.

“Do you have feelings for Regina?” she asked firmly now “Do you wish she was your girlfriend?”

“I…” Emma scratched her neck “I don’t know. I… I think… I think I do.”

“That is wonderful, Emma,” said Snow, who had always feared Emma would end up alone “Have you told her?”

“No!” said the blonde too quickly “I mean… I really don’t have a chance with her. How could I?”

“You’d be surprised,” said Snow in a softer voice.

“You think?”

“I really do!”

Emma sometimes hated her mother’s optimism. She had never imagined her reaction about hearing her feeling for the former Evil Queen would be this one. But then again, she was Snow White, and love and all that crap was her thing. She would have never laughed at her feelings, or be opposed to it. Not now that, after everything they had been through together, her and Regina were actually friends. That suddenly made her realize how much her mother couldn’t keep a secret, and that she should have talked to Regina before Snow could.

“Can you meet me at Granny’s for lunch?” she started typing a text to Regina “I have something to tell you.”

“I’m not very found of your dining choice.” read Regina’s response.

“But meet me there at 1.” read the second text sent right after.

* * *

 

“Did she actually say that?” Regina’s mouth almost hanging open “Did she actually say that it was wonderful?”

“She did,” replied the blonde, still trying to read the other woman’s face.

“Unbelievable,” said the brunette, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry, Regina,” said Emma “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Upset me?”

“Yeah, aren’t you upset?”

“I am not,” admitted the brunette “I’m just surprised.”

“Surprised about what?”

“Well, about… everything,” said Regina “About you having feelings for me; and your mother thinking it is wonderful.”

“Wait, back up a bit,” replied Emma, trying really hard not to get her hopes up “You are okay with me having feelings for you?”

“I… am,”

“You are?”

“Yes, and close your mouth before a fly gets in, Swan,”

“But, how… I don’t understand,” kept saying the blonde.

“I don’t mind because I have feelings for you, too,” said Regina at last.

“You do?” asked Emma, sounding more and more surprised “Since when? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I do,” started answering the brunette “Since when, I don’t know. And I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to ruin things with Snow, I never imagined she would have approved me dating you.”

“Why?” asked Emma, her eyes almost popping out of her head.

“Because I was the Evil Queen,” admitted the brunette “and you are the Savior.”

“That’s ridiculous, Regina,” said Emma, looking at the other woman tenderly “You have always been Regina to me. Plus, I was afraid you’d never want to be with an idiot like myself.”

“I would love to,” said Regina, not believing the words coming out of her own mouth “You’re my idiot, after all.”

“I am?” asked Emma, grinning from ear to ear.

“Idiot,” said Regina, rolling her eyes, but smiling just as much.

“Yours,” said the blonde, before reaching for the brunette’s hand on the table and squeezing it lightly.

Regina squeezed her hand back, and started looking lovingly at the woman sitting right in front of her.

They were both so focused on the other, that they didn’t notice Snow tearing up outside the window. She couldn’t after all keep her secret for so long, so she had texted Ruby as soon as her daughter had left for work. For that reason, as soon as Ruby had understood what was going on between the mayor and the sheriff, she had texted her best friend.

Not even noticing the strange looks she was getting from passerby and people inside the diner, Snow kept smiling.

“I couldn’t have thought of a better match for each other,” she thought to herself, before walking away from the diner.


	3. I’m personally offended that you didn’t get me to be your fake date.

Emma is in front of her parents’ front door, she is about to knock, when she hears heels approaching. With her hand midair, she turns around and find herself face to face with the mayor.

“Regina,” she exclaim, grabbing her phone from her back pocket “Did you get that weird text from my mom too?”

“I did,” replies the brunette, flipping her hair “what is Snow up to this time?”

“Let’s find out?” proposes the blonde, feeling a bit less anxious now that the other woman is here.

She takes a deep breath anyway, before finally knocking on the door.

A couple of minutes later they are both greeted by the ever so cheerful Snow.

“Emma! Regina,” says the short aired woman “Come in, come in! Did you get here together?”

“No, we just met outside,” answers Emma, a bit too quickly.

Regina side eyes her, then just nods; it wasn’t a lie after all.

Snow leads them both to the kitchen, gesturing them to sit at the stools, before going behind the counter.

“Can I get you anything?” she asks, as soon as the other two women are seated, an empty stool between them “Tea? Coffee?”

“Mom,” says Emma, trying not to sound too annoyed “Why don’t you just tell us why you had us come here?”

“Yeah, Snow,” says Regina, not caring how annoyed she sounds “Just tell us.”

“Okay,” says Snow, placing one of the mugs she had just picked back on the counter “We, well I, decided to throw a ball.”

“I didn’t know you were into sports,” says Emma without thinking, then at the expression on her mother’s face, she adds: “Like a dancing ball? Why?”

“Because I was feeling like it,” replies her mother “We don’t have enough balls here in Storybrooke.”

“Can you repeat that last part again?” says Regina, smirking.

“We don’t have enough balls here in Storybrooke,” she repeats without thinking “Why are you two laughing?”

“Seriously, Snow?” says Regina, trying to compose herself.

“Oh, can you act your age for once?” protests Snow, once she gets what she had just said.

“Come one, mom. It was funny,” says Emma, once she has done laughing “What do you want us to do for the b… hmm… dance?”

“Nothing,” she says, then notices the confused looks on both women in front of her “I mean… I know you two haven’t been dating anyone right now. So, I thought I’d set you up with someone.”

Emma starts shifting on her stool; her mind racing too fast. “Did she call us both here to set us up together? Am I going to be rejected by Regina in front of my mom of all people? Because, come on… Regina would nev…”

“Emma?” says Snow, waving a hand in front of her daughter’s face “Did you hear what I said?”

“Can you repeat that last part again?” says the blonde, stopping herself from falling off the stool just in time.

“I said,” starts Snow, before realizing her daughter wasn’t asking to repeat something funny “I thought you could go to the dance with August? I noticed you two got along.”

“August? Really?” asks Emma, speechless.

“What’s wrong with August?” asks Snow.

“Nothing,” replies Emma, way too quickly “I just had someone else in mind to bring.”

“You do?” ask both Snow and Regina at the same time.

“Yeah,” says the blonde, mentally kicking herself for the lie.

“Who?”

“Archie?” says the blonde tentatively. Literally saying the first name they came into her mind.

“Archie?” repeats Snow, raising an eyebrow “That sounds lovely. I didn’t know you liked him.”

“I…” says Emma, blushing because of the huge lie she has just said “… didn’t know either.”

Regina just can’t believe her own ears. “Emma is asking Archie for the dance? Could she have picked a more fake date? Does Snow know Archie is dating a guy already? Why didn’t Em…”

“Regina,” says Snow for the third time “Are you listening to me? What is wrong with you two today?”

“Sorry, Snow,” says the brunette, trying to focus on her friend.

“Do you have someone you want to bring to the dance?” she asks, again “Or you want me to pick someone for you? Because I had a couple of ideas.”

“No, you don’t have to worry about me,” she says Regina “I already have someone in mind as well.”

“Who?” ask mother and daughter.

“Mal,” says the brunette, turning toward Emma, curious to see her reaction “I was thinking about asking Mal.”

“Nice,” says Emma, a bit too loudly “Maybe we can double date.”

“Yeah,” says Regina, squinting her eyes at the blonde, wondering if she is being serious or just messing with everyone in the room.

“Great,” says Snow, at last “go on now, go ask your dates out.”

“Are you kicking us out?” asks Regina, thinking she must be in some kind of weird dream.

“Yes,” replies Snow, then immediately corrects herself “I mean, there is a lot to do for that night.”

* * *

 

Right after Emma closes the door behind her, Regina gives her an hard long stare.

“What?” asks the blonde, looking down.

“Archie?” says Regina, laughing “Really?”

“What’s wrong with Archie?”

“Snow is the only person who couldn’t figure out you going on a dance with Archie would be a fake date,” says the brunette, shaking her head “Archie has a boyfriend.”

“I panicked, and I said the first name I could think of, okay?” says Emma, leaning against the wall, crossing her arms “Why do you care so much?”

“I…” starts Regina, not knowing whether to tell the truth or lie through her teeth.

“What?”

**“I’m personally offended that you didn’t get me to be your fake date.”** says the brunette, opting for the first option.

Emma swallows hard, then she almost whispers: “I can’t fake date you,” while looking down at her shoes.

“Why?” asks Regina, fighting every muscles in her body that wants to just poof out of there “What would it be so wrong about fake dating me?”

“Nothing,” replied the blonde, still staring at her shoes.

“So, what is it?” asks Regina, she shouldn’t be this offended, but she can’t help it “And can you stop looking at the floor?”

Emma, looks up and straight into Regina’s eyes, who now seems to have flames in them, and clears her voice.

“Because I don’t want to fake date you,” she says, keeping eye contact “I want to real date you, Regina.”

“You do?” asks the brunette, her eyes softening up immediately “Why didn’t you ever say so? Or why didn’t you think to ask me on this stupid ball Snow is throwing?”

“So I could get rejected right in front of my mother?” says the blonde, voicing her previous thoughts “No, thanks.”

“Who said you’d be rejected?” taking a step forward, causing the blonde to try to take a step back, hitting her head against the door.

“I don’t know,” she replies, passing a hand over the point that hit the door “I always assumed you’d reject me.”

“Em-ma,” starts saying Regina, before noticing the other woman staring down at her hand covered in a few drops of blood “Are you bleeding? How hard did you hit your head?”

“It’s okay,” says the other “You were saying?”

“It is absolutely not okay,” says the brunette, carefully reaching for the blonde’s hand, and guiding her toward the first step of the stairs “Sit down, I’ll take care of it.”

Emma follows the brunette’s instructions, and sits down on the first step.

Regina sits right next to her, and gently passes a hand right above the blonde’s head, healing it with magic. She then gently caresses the freshly healed spot.

“Emma,” she continues with her softest voice, the one that is usually reserved just for Henry “I would never reject you.”

“You wouldn’t?” asks Emma, turning around to face the brunette.

“Never,” Regina replies, looking at her lovingly, with just a hint of sadness in her eyes “I was afraid you’d reject me.”

“Oh, Regina…” says Emma, thinking of all the times she had almost had the courage to come clean about her feelings, but never actually going through with it.

“So,” says Regina, trying to lighten up the mood “Are you going to ask me to the ball or not?”

“I thought you were going to ask Mal?” says Emma, sticking out her tongue.

“Haha, funny,” says the brunette “I only said that because you were going to ask Archie.”

“Okay, then Madam Mayor,” says the blonde, getting up and offering her her hand “Will you go to the ball with me?”

“I’d be honored,” says Regina, reaching for the other’s hand and standing up.

“Shall we?” says Emma, pointing down at the stairs.

Regina just nods, before they both instinctively lock their fingers together, and walk together down the stairs.

After a few steps, Emma turns toward Regina and says: “Do you think my mom heard my hitting the door that hard? Isn’t it weird she didn’t come check?”

“Maybe I put her under another sleeping spell.” says the brunette, smirking.

“Did you?” asks Emma, raising her eyebrow.

“No, I didn’t,” says Regina, trying to sound offended.

“Oh, and Em-ma,” she continues looking down at their joined hands “I’m glad you stopped panicking whenever I try to get closer. I can’t have you injuring yourself every time.”

“I am glad, too,” says blonde, smiling widely.

* * *

  
Meanwhile, inside Snow’s apartment…

“You are terrible,” says Charming, looking at his wife standing with her hear to the door “you know that?”

“I got the job done, didn’t I?”

“They finally confessed their feelings to each other?” he asks excited; he had tried to have Snow tell him what was going on outside, but she kept shushing him.

“Something like that,” says Snow, proudly “Emma asked Regina to the ball!”

“That’s my girl,” he says, with his signature smile.


	4. The date didn’t go well. Yeah, she/he didn’t like how I kept mentioning all of our adventures.

Emma gets inside Granny’s diner in the hope of finding a familiar face. She is either looking for Henry or her dad, not her mom though; she is really not in the mood to have a hope speech or whatever. Hell, she would be okay with having a chat with Ruby; they haven’t really grown that close since everyone in town had gotten their memories back, but she still liked her enough.  
She looks around the place hopeful, when the only familiar enough face she sees in there is Regina’s. Before she can run for it, her and the brunette make eye contact.  
  
Regina gives her an almost shy smile and looks back down at her table.  
  
“Shit,” thinks Emma to herself, while walking toward the table “the last person I needed to see tonight.”  
  
“Hey,” she says instead once she is close enough for the mayor to hear her “what are you doing all alone here?”  
  
“I was here with Henry,” she replies the brunette “he was craving one of Granny’s hot cocoa.”  
  
“Where is he now?” asks the sheriff, looking around the place once again.  
  
“Violet showed up five minutes after we did with an excuse for Henry to go outside,” she scoffs “because of course I knew it was an excuse, they haven’t come back yet.”  
  
“You okay with it?” asks the blonde, raising an eyebrow “With Henry sneaking around like that with Violet?”  
  
“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”  
  
“Regina…”  
  
“Okay, I am not okay with my 13 year son sneaking around with a girl,” Regina admits at last “but at least I know who he is with. And I am not turning into my mother.”  
  
“I didn’t mean that,” says Emma immediately “I just thought…”  
  
“I know what you meant,” says Regina, looking into the other woman’s eyes to let her super power to the thing “I was just making sure you knew I’d never do that to our son.”  
  
“I know, Regina,” says the blonde, her super power telling her the brunette was telling the truth.  
  
“Thank you,” says Regina.  
  
“Did you get to order anything?” asks the blonde, after a few moments.  
  
“I didn’t,” replies the brunette, looking down at the menu still in front of her “I wouldn’t know what to get. The only thing I tried from here was the grilled cheese you brought me that one time.”  
  
“Do you want me to order for you?” Emma offers, smiling fondly at the memory of the two of them sharing lunch everyday while looking for the author.  
  
“No weird things,” says Regina, deciding to trust the blonde.  
  
“Leave it to me,” says the blonde, smiling widely now; feeling honored.  
  
Emma gets herself a grilled cheese (as per usual), french fries, and hot cocoa with cinnamon. For Regina she orders a hot cocoa with cinnamon as well (because “you are part of the family now, so you should try it. But without alcohol this time.”), and french toasts. The sheriff points out that it was a diner after all, and that she could get something from the breakfast menu. What she doesn’t voice is that Regina looks a bit bummed out by Henry leaving her alone, so she might need something sweet.  
  
A few minutes after they had done ordering, Regina looks at the woman sitting in front of her. She hadn’t noticed this earlier, but the blonde had a strange looking expression on her face. A mix of sadness and nervousness.  
  
“I know why I am a bit bummed out,” she says at last “What is your excuse?”  
  
“Me?” says Emma, coming out of whatever is going on in her head.  
  
“Yes, you Miss Swan,” says Regina sarcastically “Do you see anyone else here?”  
  
“Yeah, sorry,” says the blonde “I was just thinking about something that happened earlier.”  
  
“Oh,” exclaims the brunette, then offers: “I can lend you an ear, if you want.”  
  
“I…” starts the blonde, scratching her head “I am not sure you want to hear about this.”  
  
“You’d be surprised,” says Regina, smiling warmly, to make sure the other knows she can talk to her about anything.  
  
“Okay,” says Emma cautiously “I was just on a date with Hook…”  
  
“Oh,” Regina exclaims again, trying not to let it show that it is probably the last subject she is interested in “Did something happen?”  
  
“Kind of…” admits the blonde, looking down at the table now “I don’t know… I don’t know how to explain it. Everything was fine, when…”  
  
“Wait,” says Regina, when the blonde had stared down for a bit longer than needed to find the right words “Did he try anything weird? Did he hurt you?”  
  
“No, Regina. God, no… Nothing like that,” says Emma in one breath.  
  
“Okay,” says the brunette, letting out a big sigh of relief “take your time then.”  
  
**“The date didn’t go well.”** says the sheriff, still trying to say what had happened.  
  
“I got that part,” says Regina, still speaking gently; she could see how difficult it was for the blonde to talk about whatever she was trying to say.  
  
 “So, the date didn’t go well?” she adds, seeing the puppy eyes Emma is giving her now.  
  
**“Yeah, he didn’t like how I kept mentioning all of our adventures,”** says Emma at last, taking a deep breath right after; looking like she is about to hide right behind Granny’s counter.  
  
“He… what?” says Regina first, looking surprised “and you… what?”  
  
“Apparently I always talk about our adventures whenever we are together,” says Emma, moving her hands nervously.  
  
“What were you talking about this time?” asks Regina genuinely curious “We haven’t had any adventure in a bit.”  
  
“Henry trying to steal magic,” replies Emma “you and me in New York…”  
  
It’s been almost 6 months since that happened. Yes, they had to deal with the Evil Queen and Hyde, but Hook had been around for the whole thing. Not that Emma doesn’t like to talk about how she, her mom and Henry had helped Regina accept her Evil Queen side. How Regina accepting that past side of her and reuniting with the Evil Queen had helped defeat Hyde; with the help of Emma’s magic too, of course. But it isn’t as exciting as New York had been. Her and Regina road tripping to get their son back. Everything that had happened in Neal’s apartment, how Regina had opened herself up to Emma. And the road trip back with Regina, Henry and Violet…  
  
“It’s been so long,” points out Regina as well.  
  
“Are you saying he was right for getting mad about it?” asks Emma, almost whispering.  
  
“No,” says Regina immediately “I think if you are in a relationship with someone, you have to be willing to listen to whatever they want to talk about that makes them happy, even if it’s not something you do want to talk about.”  
  
“Good think we are not in a relationship anymore,” says the blonde.  
  
“Oh,” says Regina, reaching for Emma’s hand on the table “I am sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be,” replies Emma, flinching slightly at the touch of the other woman’s hand on hers “It’s been over a long time ago, we just made it official today.”  
  
“Emma,” says Regina, after enjoying the silence between them for a few minutes “Can I ask you something?”  
  
“Okay?” says the blonde, hesitantly.  
  
“How come you are always talking about out adventures?” asks the brunette “I mean, don’t get me wrong, but isn’t a bit odd to be always talking about your friend while you are with your boyfriend?”  
  
“Yeah, I know…” admits Emma, blushing “but you and Henry are my family; and the only two people that truly make me happy.”  
  
Regina instinctively retreats her hand from Emma’s, not because she didn’t like what she has just said, but because she had no idea the blonde felt that way.  
  
“Regina,” exclaims Emma at the brunette’s sudden movement “I can take that back. I didn’t mean…”  
  
“No,” says Regina immediately “It’s okay. I didn’t know you felt that way.”  
  
“What way?” asks the blonde, just in case.  
  
“You know…” starts Regina, before realizing that maybe she has gotten that phrase all wrong “I thought you meant… Never mind I guess I was wrong.”  
  
“Regina, I am not following.”  
  
“I thought you meant I made you happy as more than a friend… And not in a best friend kind of way either… You know…” starts bumbling Regina; she has spent too much time around the Charmings lately. Or maybe it is just Emma who makes her particularly nervous talking about her feelings. Or potential feelings.  
  
“That is exactly what I meant, Regina,” says the blonde, blushing a bit more “You know I am not good with words, and feelings.”  
  
“I know,” says Regina, smiling warmly at her again “I know.”  
  
They are about to start talking at the same time, when both are interrupted by the waitress bringing them their order.  
  
As the waitress is leaving their table once again, Henry is approaching it.  
  
“Sorry, mom,” he says, sitting down next to the brunette “I lost track of time.”  
  
“Hey, ma,” he continues, picking one of the french fries out of Emma’s plate “Are these for me?”  
  
“It’s okay,” says Regina, looking at her little prince.  
  
“You can have them, kid,” says Emma, almost simultaneity, looking at their son as well.  
  
“What were you two talking about anyway?” he asks, with his mouth full, looking from one mother to the other.  
  
Both women smile at him, and then smile at each other.  
  
“Adult stuff,” says Regina, reaching for Emma’s hand again without thinking.  
  
“We can continue the conversation later on,” says Emma, more to Regina than to Henry.  
  
“You are both weird, you know that?” he says, looking again at the two of them, and now at their hands on the table as well.  
  
“Thanks, kid,” say Emma, unable to contain her smile. She is with her two favorite people in the world, her own little family, and she couldn’t ask for anything more.


	5. Why is your hand on my ass?

“Have you seen her in the past day?” asks Emma.

“No,” replies Regina, looking up from the map in her hands “and that worries me. She is surely up to something. I wish I knew what.”

They are both sitting in Regina’s living room, side by side on the couch; trying to find out what the Evil Queen is up to today. They had already checked all the places she might have gone to, including the vault and Snow’s apartment, but didn’t have any luck so far.

“Isn’t it weird to talk about yourself, well that side of yourself, in third person?”

“Not that weird,” says the mayor, after reflecting on it for a few moments “I have fought so hard to distance myself from the Evil Queen.”

“Yes, of course,” says the blonde, looking at the woman next to her while she is attentively scrutinizing the map “But…”

Before she could finish her sentence, everything starts trembling around them. They instinctively jump off the couch almost simultaneously, but there is a bigger quake that makes them fall right back on the couch, unconscious.

“Regina?” exclaims Emma, looking down at the brunette a mere inches from her “Are you okay?”

“Emma!” says the mayor, opening up her eyes “What happened?”

“The Evil Queen caused an earthquake,” explains the blonde “it knocked both of us unconscious for at least five minutes, I presume.”

“That… that…” starts saying Regina, not finding the right words to call that side of herself “We need to find her.”

She immediately starts looking for the map again with her only free hand.

“Hmm.. Regina?” says Emma, looking the other straight in the eyes “Haven’t you noticed our weird position?”

They had landed both right on the couch again, indeed; but with Emma right on top of Regina. If anyone would have entered the room in that exact moment, they would have thought they looked like two people making out.

“I did notice that,” says Regina, raising her eyebrow “It isn’t time to play around though. We need to get down to business.”

“Okay. Yes. Hmm…” starts mumbling the sheriff “Regina?”

“What now, dear?” asks Regina, looking away from the map she had managed to get an hold on.

“ **Why is your hand on my ass?** ”

“I guess I grabbed it when we fell.” says Regina  in a matter-of-fact way.

“Oookay,” continues Emma “Why is your hand still on my ass?”

“I…” starts the brunette, then points out: “It took you a full couple of minutes to say anything about it.”

“Hey,” says the blonde, grinning at the other “I am not complaining or anything. I’m just asking.”

“Well, in that case, Emma,” says Regina, grinning back “My hand was too comfortable on your firm ass.”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” comes the Evil Queen’s voice from one corner of the room “Just kiss her already. It’s unbelievable how long you have wanted to do that.”

“She… what?” asks Emma, looking around the room trying to understand where the voice is coming from, then looking at Regina again “you what? How long have you wanted to kiss me?”

“Too long, Miss Swan,” comes the Evil Queen’s voice again, from another corner of the room this time “Ever since you two first met.”

“Is it true?” asks the blonde, still looking down at Regina, her Regina, not the one speaking.

“Yes, it is true,” finally says the brunette “can you now leave us alone, please?”

A malicious laugh echoes around the room, closely followed by another quake, which causes Regina to grab Emma’s ass with her other hand as well.

“I guess you are very fond of my ass,” points out the blonde.

“That I am,” says the brunette, looking down at Emma’s lips “What do you say Em-ma? Should we do what the Evil Queen just said?”

“Regina…” says Emma, looking up to the brunette’s eyes from her lips “Just kiss me already!”

*And that is how, with a bit of help from someone else, the former Evil Queen and the Savior finally had their first kiss.*

“Wait, what?” says both Emma and Regina, coming out of their passionate kiss.

They both jump on the spot, and are now in sitting position on the couch.

“Who said that?” asks Regina, looking around the room, Emma following her lead.

They both turn around toward the door at the same time, and spot Henry leaning against the frame.

“Henry!” exclaims both mothers at the same time.

“Took you long enough,” he says, with a pleased smile on his face “Although, I didn’t expect the gross part about the ass.”

“How?” asks the brunette, the blonde has still her mouth hanging open.

“I replicated the Evil Queen’s voice with an app,” he says showing them his phone “And I got a spell for the earthquake from one of your books.”

“You did what?” exclaims Regina “Come here right now.”

“Not when you have that expression on your face,” he says, taking a few steps back “You’ll thank me later on, I am sure.”

“Henry Daniel Mills,” says Regina, raising her voice now.

“Go back to your gross kissing now, moms,” comes Henry’s voice from outside the room now.

“Can you believe that?” says Regina, looking at the other mother of his child.

“Actually, I can…” says Emma, bursting into laughter “What do you say we take care of him after we are done here?”

“What do you have in mind?” asks Regina with a smirk.

“Follow our son’s instructions, of course,” replies Emma, before leaning forward to kiss the brunette once again.


	6. I dare you to kiss me.

“What are we, 12?” asks Regina, moving her left hand holding the almost empty glass of wine.  
  
“Regina,” exclaims Snow, trying to sound horrified but not being able to keep a straight face because of all the alcohol in her system “be careful with that wine near my white carpet.”  
  
“Yeah, dearie,” says Rumple “and from my suit as well, thank you!”  
  
“Nobody answered me, though” points out the mayor, pouting.  
  
“Come on,” says Belle, trying to cheer everyone’s mood “It’d be fun.”  
  
“You say that because you are the one who isn’t drinking,” says Regina, stopping her glass from flying in Rumple’s direction just in time.  
  
“Okay, Belle,” says Snow, ignoring Regina’s protests “You start.”  
  
Rumple magics shot glasses in front of everyone in the room.  
  
  
They have no idea how they got into this situation; or maybe they do… It has been a few days since Rumple had finally been able to wake Belle from the sleeping curse she had put herself under. As soon as that had happened, Henry had requested a family dinner; and that included his two moms, and all his (living) grandparents. He had pointed out that it was so rare for all of them to be in the same realm and with none of them being under a sleeping curse or without their memory. He was also aware that the Evil Queen was still running around free, causing destruction around town, but he didn’t want to let that get in the way of some “well deserved family time”.  
So, here they are, all sitting at Snow and Charming’s apartment. All half drunk, since the kid had decided to go to sleep an hour before, begging them to spend some more time together. They didn’t know what he was up to, but none of them had the guts to say no to him.  
  
“Can I go then?” asks Belle, receiving a nod from everyone else in the room.  
  
“Okay, let’s see,” she continued “Never have I ever not had a true love kiss.”  
  
As everyone in the room is looking around, because literally everyone in the room has had a true love kiss, one way or another, she adds: “A romantic true love kiss.”  
  
Regina and Emma, who had casually ended up sitting next to each other, look at one another and then take a shot.  
  
“That’s not fair,” protests the blonde, after the shot.  
  
“Emma is right,” says Regina “Bookworm knows we are the only one who didn’t have a romantic true love kiss.”  
  
They were indeed the only two people in the room not having had a romantic true love kiss so far. Snow and Charming had had theirs when Charming had to wake up Snow from the sleeping curse. Rumple and Belle almost had their one back in the enchanted forest; then had an actual one when Rumple had finally been able to wake up Belle a few days earlier.  
The only experience with true love kisses the two women had had was with their son.  
  
“Is this some kind of conspiracy?” asks Regina, too drunk at this point.  
  
“It is not a conspiracy,” says Snow, before reflecting on the matter “But it is true you have never had a romantic true love kiss. That’s… odd.”  
  
“How is that odd?” asks Emma, pouting “Not everyone can be Snow White and Prince Charming.”  
  
“Not to interfere, dearie,” says Rumple, looking lovingly toward his wife “But we are not Snow White and Prince Charming.”  
  
“You’re Beauty and the Beast,” says the sheriff, rolling her eyes “big difference.”  
  
“Maybe there is a solution to that,” says Rumple.  
  
“Rumple, we have talked about this,” says Belle, the only sober one “No pushing.”  
  
“What solution?” asks both Emma and Regina, ignoring Belle altogether.  
  
“Have you ever thought that there is only one combination of two people sharing a true love kiss that you haven’t tried yet?” says Rumple “One that is right in front of your eyes?”  
  
“Oh,” says Regina, understanding what he saying, being more familiar with the way he talks “ ** _I dare you to kiss me_** , Miss Swan.”  
  
“What?” says Emma, unable to believe her ears.  
  
“You heard me,” says the brunette, getting a few inches closer to the other woman “Let’s see if Rumple is right. Shall we?”  
  
Emma doesn’t need to be told twice, she gets even closer to the brunette and kisses her.  
  
A rainbow flashes right from their bodies, enveloping the entire town. It’s the true love kiss rainbow, to nobody’s surprise, expect the two people sharing the kiss.  
  
“How…?” asks Emma, coming out from the kiss.  
  
“You… “ says Regina looking toward Rumple “You, bastard. You knew all along.”  
  
“I told you you’d get that later,” he says snickering.  
  
“Mom, ma,” comes Henry’s voice from the stairs “You did it.”  
  
“Did what, kid?” asks Emma, as their son approaches the living room “And how do you know?”  
  
“Share true love kiss,” he says, holding up the Storybook, showing his two moms kissing just moments before.  
  
 “And defeat the Evil Queen,” he continues, flipping to the next page showing Regina finally reunited with the Evil Queen, and at peace with herself “well defeat is not the right word.”  
  
“I do feel a bit more completed now,” says Regina, who was too focused on her sharing a kiss, a true love kiss nonetheless, with the Savior, than anything else “Now that you point that out.”  
  
“How did you know…” starts Henry “how did you know it would work between you two?”  
  
“Rumple,” says Belle.  
  
“I am not the one who started talking about true love kisses,” points out Rumple.  
  
“Touché.”  
  
“Why isn’t anyone surprised that it worked in the first place?” asks Emma, looking around the room.  
  
“Oh, honey…” says Charming, who had been just observing the whole time “We all knew it was going to happen sooner or later, we were just waiting for you to get it as well.”  
  
Everyone else, except Regina, nod at that.  
  
Regina and Emma look toward each other; both smiling, both thinking that deep down that had known it themselves all along.


	7. I understand the whole sleep talking thing but what I don’t understand is the princess dragon dream and why I’m in it.

Regina suddenly woke up in the middle of the night in a unfamiliar bed. She was having a wonderful dream, which she couldn’t bring herself to remember at the moment, when she suddenly heard someone talking in the room.  
She lay in bed for a few more seconds with her eyes wide open, trying to study her surroundings. She was about to fall asleep thinking it had been just part of her dream, when two things happened at once: Henry, who was sleeping next to her, kicked her lightly in his sleep; and she heard the same voice, calling her name this. Now that she was awake she immediately recognized who it belonged to.  
  


* * *

  
  
With the treat of the Wicked Witch wanting to steal Snow’s baby, they had decided that the best way to protect both mother and baby, was for all of them to be under the same roof.  
After a half an hour of bickering over who was supposed to sleep where, they had come to the conclusion that Snow and David should’ve had the room on the second floor, just in case Regina’s Wicked sister decided to be polite and use the front door. That had left Henry, and both of his mothers. They had agreed that the logical thing to do was for the three of them to sleep downstairs.  
  
As soon as expecting parents had left to get some well deserved rest, the bickering had started again.  
  
“Okay,” said Emma getting up from the sofa “I’ll go get a blanket and a pillow and I’ll sleep on the couch. You two can have the bed.”  
  
“Ma,” had protested Henry “I’ll sleep on the couch. You can sleep on the bed with mom.”  
  
“Woah, kid,” replied the blonde, blushing slightly “I don’t think that’s a good idea?”  
  
“Why not?” he asked in all his 11 year old innocence.  
  
Regina focused all her attention on the blonde; she was really curious to know the answer. She had never imagined that sharing a bed with Emma would’ve been like this, but she had definitely thought about it. Now she really wanted to know why Emma had reacted that way at the mere thought of the two of them sleeping on the same bed with their whole family basically in the room.  
  
“Because…” she started, trying to come up with a good excuse “well, because the couch is uncomfortable for you. You know? It’s old… and it kind of smells.”  
  
“Ew,” he replied, now more than convinced than ever that the bed was the better option.  
  
“I heard that,” came Snow’s voice from up the stairs.  
  
“Shit,” said Emma under her breath “this apartment is way too small to share with my parents.”  
  
“And you just figured that out?” asked Regina, letting out a low laugh.  
  
“I heard that too.”  
  
“Just go to sleep!” said both Emma and Regina at the same time, before looking at each other for a moment, then looking away immediately.  
  
That had definitely down the trick: Snow hadn’t replied anymore, and the trio went to sleep as well.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Now, Regina was tiptoeing off the bed, trying to move into the unfamiliar dark apartment, only guided by Emma’s voice.  
  
“Son of a…” she said, biting her tongue at the last minute. She had just hit her pinky toe against one of the pieces of the still unfinished crib.  
  
“Who is there?” said Emma, suddenly waking up, her gun ready in one hand and a flashlight ready in the other.  
  
“Swan,” said the brunette covering her eyes with one hand “you can lower that light now, it’s just me. And while you are at that lower your gun as well.”  
  
“Sorry,” murmured the blonde, still half asleep, setting aside the gun and pointing the flashlight to the floor in order to help the other woman see where she was going.  
  
“Thank you,” replied Regina, her eyes still adjusting from having gone from pitch-black to all to bright in a matter of seconds.  
  
“What are you doing up anyway?” asked the sheriff once the other had set down next to her on the couch.  
  
“I heard a voice in my sleep,” explained the brunette “then I realized it was your voice, so I thought I’d check what was going on.”  
  
“I was having a dream,” said the blonde, widening her eyes “how much of it did you hear?”  
  
“I didn’t get the words the first time, but I heard you calling my name,” replied the brunette “What were you dreaming about?”  
  
“You really want to know?” asked Emma, trying to buy herself some time.  
  
“Of course.”  
  
“Okay, picture this,” started the blonde “I am in a shiny armor, sword in my hand, when I hear a woman scream. When I go and try to save her, a dragon suddenly appears between us. Kind of in the same way it happens in Sleeping beauty, you know?”  
  
“You mean the movie that’s supposed to be based on Mal?”  
  
“Who?”  
  
“Mal or Maleficent as she is known in this land,” said the brunette chuckling “the dragon you slayed?!”  
  
“That was Mal?” asked the blonde, horrified at the thought she had to kill a dragon who had a name “Your…”  
  
“My ex,” said Regina in a matter of fact tone “why do you look so shocked now?”  
  
“You let me kill your ex?” she exclaimed, before putting a hand on her mouth, hoping she hadn’t woken up anyone in the house.  
  
“Henry was dying,” replied the brunette “I’m sure you are not shocked by the fact that I’d put our son’s life above anyone else’s. So, out with it, Miss Swan.”  
  
“Okay,” admitted the blonde, wanting to hide under the couch “I didn’t… I didn’t know you were into women.”  
  
“That’s all?” asked Regina, raising an eyebrow “it’s not like we talk about all our exes or anything. But then again, I am pretty sure I have already met all of yours, besides the flying monkey.”  
  
“Hey,” protested the blonde, realizing that the other woman was probably right “we are getting off topic here.”  
  
“You are right,” agreed the brunette “I’m still trying to understand what I have to do with all of this.”  
  
“What do you mean?” said Emma, scratching her head “the dream ends with me saving the princess, and we live happily ever after. You probably heard me sleep talk.”  
  
 **“I understand the whole sleep talking thing but what I don’t understand is the princess dragon dream and why I’m in it.”**  
  
“Well,” said the sheriff, clearly turning red at the realization that she had just given herself away.  
  
“Well what, Miss Swan?”  
  
Emma replied in such a fast and low tone that she wasn’t even sure she had heard herself.  
  
“I didn’t hear a single word of what you just said.”  
  
“You were the princess.”  
  
“I was the… what?” asked the brunette, her eyes widening “Why was I the princess in your dream, if I may ask?”  
  
“Becauseyouareasbeautifulasaprincessinmyeyes.”  
  
“I didn’t catch a single word, again,” said Regina, furrowing her eyebrows “talk a bit more slowly this time.”  
  
“Because you are as beautiful as a princess in my eyes,” admitted the blonde, looking down “actually, as beautiful as a queen, but that need to be saved are always princesses in movies.”  
  
“And you think I need saving?” asked the brunette, trying not to show how amused she was.  
  
“No, that’s not what I meant,” replied Emma, looking up and into the other woman’s eyes “I just always felt the need to protect you. I don’t know where it comes from.”  
  
“Okay,” said the brunette chuckling, noticing the embarrassment on the other woman’s eyes “you know you could’ve just made a dream up?”  
  
“Shit,” said the blonde loudly enough, realizing she could’ve avoided having to admit all those things.  
  
“Emma,” exclaimed Snow from the second floor.  
  
“Go to sleep,” said once again Regina and Emma at the same time.  
  
“Don’t you go to sleep me, you two,” yelled Snow back “you either get it over with it, or you get the hell out of my house at three in the morning.”  
  
“Get it over with what?” asked Emma confused.  
  
“The Charming gene is really strong in you isn’t it?” said Regina, half laughing half worried at the fact that she had feeling for a Charming out of all the people she could’ve had feelings for.  
  
“Just kiss already,” came David’s sleepy voice “so your mom can go to sleep and stop making me spy on you two.”  
  
“You’re doing what?” asked the blonde, before turning to face the brunette “Do you know what they are talking about?”  
  
“I think that this time the Charming gene is even more evident in you than it is in your father,” said the brunette raising an eyebrow.  
  
“Okay,” she continued when the other had looked even more confused “you think I am as beautiful as a queen and you always want to protect me. You dreamed about us living happily ever after. It’s pretty self-explanatory.”  
  
“Yeah,” admitted the blonde “I have feelings for you, I think I gave it away just moments ago. But it takes two to tango, or in this case… kiss.”  
  
“Please,” came Snow’s voice again from upstairs “she always look at you in that way… the same way your dad always looks at me.”  
  
“Yeah,” agreed David “like you put the sun, and the moon, and all the stars in the sky.”  
  
“Woah,” said Emma, looking toward where her patents’ voices were coming from, then back at the woman sitting next to her “is that true?”  
  
“I wouldn’t have put it the same way Prince Charming did,” replied the brunette “but yes, that’s pretty much it.”  
  
“What are we waiting for then?” asked the blonde smiling widely.  
  
Regina didn’t let the other repeat herself twice: she leaned over and gently kissed her.  
  
“Did you kiss?”  
  
“Mom!!!”  
  
“Okay, okay,” said Snow “I’ll leave you alone, but I want to know everything tomorrow.”  
  
Emma silently nodded no at the worried expression on the brunette’s face.  
  
“Now,” said the brunette “do you always sleep talk or it only happens when you stubbornly sleep on the couch?”  
  
“Hmm…” started the other, still a bit embarrassed “the second option.”  
  
“How about we both squeeze next to out son?”  
  
“Sounds good.”  
  
They both walked toward the bed this time, Emma holding the flashlight to guide them. She let Regina climb into bed first.  
  
As soon as the blonde positioned herself at the edge of the bed, Regina brought a hand behind her back to signal the other to get closer.  
  
“Is right here okay?”  
  
“A bit closer?”  
  
“Now?” asked the blonde, practically being Regina’s big spoon.  
  
“Perfect,” replied the brunette, reaching for the other woman’s arm and positioning it on her own waist.  
  
“Mom,” said Henry all of a sudden, face to face with the brunette.  
  
“Yes, dear?”  
  
“Can you everyone stop talking now?” he said between yawns “I am so tired.”  
  
“Of course,” said the brunette “go back to sleep.”  
  
“Sorry, kid.”  
  
“Night moms.”  
  
“Goodnight, Henry.” said both of his moms at the same time.


	8. Fuck I feel like I got hit by a car… Wait I did? And it was your car?

“Shit, shit, shit,” said Emma, the only word she had been saying for 5 minutes.

“Emma?” called Regina, even before opening her eyes.

“Shit…”

“What happened?” she asked, opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings.

She was in the middle of her vault, on a velvety bed. Emma was a few feet away, going through one of her books.

“ **Fuck I feel like I got hit by a car…** ” said the brunette bringing a hand to her head “ **wait I did? And it was your car?** ”

Emma widened her eyes in response and bit her lower lip.

“Emma Swan Mills,” said Regina in a high pitched tone “you tell me what happened right now or…”

“Or what?” asked the blonde, tilting her head “you’ll punish me?”

“Maybe I will this time.”

“Okay, okay,” replied her wife “I’ll tell you what happened…”

“So?” asked the other woman raising an eyebrow.

“I kind of accidentally hit you with my car.”

“I got that part,” said Regina in a sarcastic tone “and thank you for pointing out it was an accident.”

“I was getting off our driveway, when you just came out of nowhere?”

“I came out of nowhere or you weren’t looking? Where were you going in such a rush?”

“Henry texted me and…”

“He texted you? Is he okay?”

“Of course he is.”

“Okay, good,” replied the brunette relieved “I’m still waiting for an explanation, though.”

“Well, he texted me telling me Granny had made too many bearclaws and was giving them away.”

“You hit me with your car because of a bearclaw?” asked Regina, getting off the bed her wife had materialized in the middle of her vault.

“Kind of more than one?” pointed out the other “I wasn’t going to get only one, duh.”

“Does it matter the number?” asked the brunette, before focusing on what the blonde was doing “and what are you doing with my spell book?”

“I was…”

“Yes?”

“I was trying to erase your memory,” admitted the blonde looking away “just a little bit.”

“Just a little bit?” exclaimed Regina getting closer “and why would you do that?”

“Because I know you’d say you’d want to get rid of the bug, if you knew about the accident.”

“Emma,” said the brunette in a softer voice “your yellow bug is older than our son, and he is almost 18 now.”

“I know, but…”

“But what?”

“It still works just fine,” explained Emma “I had promised myself I would get a new car when this one was starting to show signs of not working well. But it keeps on going, it’s just like…wait a minute…”

“It’s just like what?”

“Magic,” exclaimed the blonde, putting the pieces together “have you been doing something to my bug?”

“I have not…” exclaimed her wife a bit too quickly.

“Regina, you know I can always tell when you are lying,” said Emma with a smirk “I have been way before I married you three years ago.”

“Okay,” admitted the brunette, knowing too well her wife was right “I have been using magic on it. I am damn sure I am not going to let you or Henry drive in that metal coffin on wheel without some kind of protection.”

“Admit it,” said the blonde laughing “you love my yellow bug.”

“I mean,” replied Regina “I don’t hate it.”

“That’s what you used to say about me,” said Emma, getting closer to her wife and wrapping a arm around her waist “and now you love me.”

“I’m kind of having second thoughts about that,” said the brunette, her arms wrapping the other woman’s waist as well.

“Hey!”

“Okay, okay,” said the older woman “I do love you.”

“I love you, too,” replied Emma “but what about the bug?”

“I have to admit… still better than the flying carpet you wanted us to get a few years ago.”

“What’s wrong with a flying carpet?” asked the blonde, raising an eyebrow “I wanted us to be Aladdin and Jasmine.”

Instead of replying, Regina raised her hands in front of her and enveloped them in purple smoke.

“Woooow,” exclaimed Emma at the sight in front of her.

Regina had just transported them on an actual flying carpet. She had even changed their clothes to match the Disney characters Emma had just mentioned.

“I can see our house from here,” continued the blonde enthusiastically.

“Just be careful…” exclaimed Regina at how close the blonde had gotten to the edge.

“Woah,” said Emma, too close to falling off the carpet, before gripping Regina’s hand just in time.

“You have to admit,” said the brunette, once they were both positioned right in the middle of the carpet “it’s not very practical.”

“You are right,” admitted the blonde “but I can still show you the world.”

“How are you going to do that?” Regina asked, knowing too well what was coming next. Emma had watched the movie a dozen times, in the last year alone.

“Do you trust me?”

Regina just nodded in response; and Emma poofed them away in another land, ready to take her wife on a magic carpet ride.


	9. We were dancing but all of a sudden it’s a slow song and we’re standing here awkwardly staring at each other

Regina was moving her entire body in time with the music, it had taken a lot of convincing from her entire family to come to this party, but she had to admit: she was actually having fun. That might had also depended on the fact that Emma was there, dancing a few feet away from her. She was just thinking that, when she froze with her arms in the air… the dj, well whatever it was the equivalent of a dwarf offering to the care of the music, had just brutally changed the music from a disco song to a slow one.

The brunette quickly lowered her arms and looked at the woman in front of her: she was clearly embarrassed, rubbing her sweaty hands on her pants. She decided to take a step forward in order to ask Emma if she wanted to go take something to drink, when the sheriff locked eyes with her.

* * *

 

“Mom, please,” was begging Henry.

“I don’t understand why we have to have a whole party at your school when with everything that happened you have been there like what? 3 months the whole year?”

“It’s just…” started Snow, trying not to get on Regina’s bad side “it’s just something nice for the kids to have.”

“Okay,” said the brunette, trying to reason with them “why do I have to go?”

“Because you are my mom.”

“Yeah,” said Emma, the first words out of her mouth since they she had gotten there.

She should’ve known that Snow inviting her to her apartment for the tea at the last minute was going to be a trap. It had quickly turned out to be an intervention for her to participate at the middle school’s end of the year party. She had said no to both Henry and Snow on different occasions, that they probably had thought it was best to unite their forces.

“After everything…” replied Regina, fixing her hair behind her ears “after everything the Evil Queen has done, I don’t think anyone wants me around.”

“First of all, that was almost a year ago,” said Snow quickly, already knowing her friend would pull out this excuse “everyone hasn’t even blamed you directly for that.”

“What else is on the list?”

“That’s all.”

Regina just rolled her eyes at Snow, then looked at Henry.

“You really want me to go?”

“Yes,” he exclaimed firmly.

“Then…” she started, rubbing her hands on her skirt “I’ll go. But I won’t have fun.”

“Thank you, mom,” he said, before getting up to plant a big kiss on his mom’s cheek “I’m going to tell Violet now.”

“Now that this is settled I was thinking…” said Snow once Henry was out of the apartment.

“I don’t like where this is going,” said Regina, causing Emma to chuckle.

“I was going to suggest you some matching dresses.”

“Over my dead body,” said the brunette, laughing out loud.

“Yeah, mom,” said the blonde while nodding “no offense, but I am not really into your style.”

“Well, okay,” said Snow, trying to find something she could actually get a say on regarding the two of them “how about dates for that night?”

“I…” started the blonde, gaze fixed on her lap “I’ll pass.”

“Me too,” added Regina quickly, looking at Emma with a worried expression.

She had noted that Emma was more and more uncomfortable when someone mentioned dating; which was understandable considering how her last relationship had ended. It had been almost a year since the break up, but the brunette could still see how much damage it had done. Snow clearly couldn’t.

“Now, if you don’t have anything else to say, Snow…”

“Actually.”

“… we promised Henry we’d meet him for ice cream.”

“We…” said Emma, confusion written all over her face, before looking grateful at the brunette and adding: “that we did. Raincheck on this?”

“Sure,” said her mother with a weak smile.

“Thank you for that,” said Emma when they were outside her parents’ building.

“No problem,” replied Regina, before looking straight into the blonde’s eyes “you really don’t want to bring a date to the party, or you are just doing it to bother your mother, as I do?”

“I really don’t think I am ready to date now,” said the blonde, noticing a glimpse in the other woman’s eyes just before she turned away “why?”

“Nothing,” said the brunette, quickly turning around to face her “ice cream?”

“Hell yeah,” replied Emma with a big smile. Her mind occupied by a strange thought for just a moment.

Regina had no intention of pushing Emma into anything she didn’t want to get into, that was sure. Sometimes it was just challenging to still be best friends with the woman you are in love with. She had realized she had feelings for the blonde somewhere during the split with the EVil Queen, but hadn’t voiced it with anyone. She had been there for Emma through everything and never once she had made a move; even when she was single again. Part of her didn’t think she was good enough for her, and the other part thought the other woman would never feel the same way about her. And for all those reasons, she had decided that having Emma in her life was enough.

* * *

 

Now, she followed Emma’s gaze to her own hand and noticed it was outstretched toward her.

“Do you want to dance with me, Madame Mayor?” asked the blonde at the brunette’s raised eyebrow.

“It would be my honor,” said Regina, taking her hand in hers.

As Emma took her closer to herself and wrapped an arm around her waist, she brought her mouth to the brunette’s ear, and whispered: “I have been wanting to ask you to be my date ever since Henry brought up this party.”

“You have?” asked the brunette surprised.

“Yeah,” admitted the other “and I have wanted to ask you out on a date since… forever.”

“Why didn’t you?” asked Regina, her arms around Emma’s neck now.

“Fear… I don’t know…” said Emma, before deciding to go for the full truth “I was going to, but by then you weren’t single anymore.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Too long.”

“I am glad you finally asked me to dance.”

“Me too,” replied the blonde, wrapping the other even tightly in her arms “I love the red leather dress, bold choice.”

“And I love your suit,” said Regina with a smirk.

And with that, they kept moving in the middle of the dance floor, feeling like they were the only two people there. The notes of ‘Only you’ starting to feel the air…


	10. Chapter 10

“You can’t call dibs on that,” protested the brunette.  
  
“Why not?” asked the blonde, with a smirk. Both hands were firmly on the wheel in front of her. She gave a quick glimpse on her right just in time to see her wife raise an eyebrow in challenge.  
  
“Because he is my son,” she answered trying to make her voice sound harsh,  but knowing too well it wasn’t going to work one bit.  
  
“Oh my god, Regina,” exclaimed the blonde, stopping at a red light and bursting into laughter, while turning around toward the other woman “how long has it been since we last used that line on each other?!?”  
  
“Long enough,” replied the brunette, pursing her lips “at least eight years?”  
  
“Wow,” exclaimed the other, who had proceeded her driving “that’s a lot.”  
  
“Don’t try to distract me, Miss Swan,” Regina continued in all seriousness “you can’t call dibs on the first hug.”  
  
“I prefer Mrs Swan-Mills, thank you very much,” said the blonde “and of course I can call dibs on the first hug. I have missed him so much these months.”  
  
“When you are being nonsensical like you are being right now, you are Miss Swan to me,” replied Regina with a smirk. It wasn’t the first time they had had a similar conversation, and it certainly wasn’t going to be the last. “And I have missed him too.”

They were on a road trip to go visit Henry at his college. He had left almost six months before, and they hadn’t gotten a chance to see each other till that point. Henry needed a bit of time to adjust to the world outside Storybrooke. His two moms were still busy with the random characters from fairytales that popped out into town here and there; but mostly they wanted to give their son a bit of space on his own.  
Regina, of course, had complained a lot about not being able to just poof herself into their son’s campus if she felt like it, because “of course New York has everything, except magic when you need it. I should’ve let Henry leave a bit of it there that one time.”   
Emma was of course bummed up about it as well, but whenever Regina would start one of her rants about this particular subject, she lent her a listening ear and lots of warm hugs. After all, of the two of them, she had been the one who had never spent more that a certain number of days away from her little prince. Except for Neverland, but that was a period of time all three of them were trying to forget.

“Whatever,” replied the blonde in a playful tone “I still got dibs on the hug.”

“We’ll see,” conceded the brunette “maybe he’ll wrap us both in one of his usual big family hugs, if he is not too ashamed of his two mothers by now.”

“I’m sure he isn’t,” said Emma, pulling up at a rest area “well, I hope he isn’t.”

“This isn’t our only stop here, isn’t it?” asked Regina, only then noticing they weren’t on the highway anymore “I was hoping we could go to Hardee’s.”

They were almost at the same exit they had used for a detour all those years ago when they had to follow their son all the way to New York. 

“It isn’t!” reassured Emma before giving out a big laugh, then she looked at Regina’s direction while opting for a different parking spot, and adding: “do me a favor and text ‘told ya’ to Henry.”

“Why am I doing that?” asked the brunette with a raised eyebrow, while reaching for her wife’s phone in her own purse.

“Because I bet him you’d want to go to Hardee’s on our way there.”

“When will you and our son stop making bets behind my back?”

“Never.”

“I mean…” continued the blonde as she saw a pout form on the other woman’s face “isn’t this kind of how we got together in the first place?”

“Are you asking me if I remember that our son might be the only reason that actually got you to be brave enough to ask me out?” asked the brunette in one breath “of course I do.”

“Hey,” protested the other “it’s not like you were ready to make a move either anyway.”

“Touché,” said Regina, remembering how it all had happened.

* * *

She was standing at Granny’s waiting for someone to bring her her order of donuts for Henry, when Emma had approached her; clearly breathless. The blonde hadn’t even said ‘hello’, she had gone directly to the point: she had bursted out a quick ‘would you go on a date with me?’; then as she had realized she had the eyes of all the people at the dinner on her, she had ran outside without even waiting for a reply. Regina had had to poof herself in the one place she knew Emma would go to after something like that, and she had immediately agreed on the date.  
Only at their tenth date Emma had confessed that Henry had challenged her to ask his other mother out.

* * *

Now, they were both lost into that memory, when Emma’s phone beeped with a new text.

“Is it Henry?” asked Emma, looking at her phone still in the other woman’s hands “what did he say?”

“It is him,” said Regina, opening the text “he just sent a frowny face.”

“What did you and Henry bet on this time?” continued the brunette.

“It’s nothing,” replied the younger woman “we’ll tell you when we get there.”

“Em-ma.”

“Okay, okay,” said the blonde, not being to deny something to her wife when she called her in that particular way “We thought you could use a bit more vacation this Christmas and a longer time away from Storybrooke; so instead of going back home after visiting Henry, we are continuing our road-trip. It’s mine and Henry’s gift to you. We bet on who was going to tell you.”

“You did?” asked the brunette, her eyes softening up completely.

“We did,” replied Emma with a big smile.

Regina smiled widely back before reaching for her own phone in her purse and typing a quick text to their son saying: ’thank you, my little prince.’

“He is always going to be a little prince to you, isn’t he?” asked the blonde, her eyes fixed on the text her wife had just sent.

“Yes,” replied the other tearing up a bit “he grew up so fast though, didn’t he?”

“He did,” said Emma smiling.

Regina’s phone beeped with a new text from Henry reading ‘you deserve it, mom. See you soon.’

“Thank you, Em-ma,” said the brunette after putting both of their phones back in her purse.

She then leaned closer to the blonde for a soft kiss.


	11. Chapter 11

Her vision is completely blurry from having spent too much time staring at the same undefined spot in front of her. She is too immersed in her own thoughts to focus on anything else.

She really can’t understand how any of that made any sense at all. She keeps thinking about her relationship with Emma. In both realms she has lived in so far, the way Emma treats her and the way they interact with each other would be signs of the blonde having feelings for her.

In the Enchanted Forest they might be even referred to as ‘True Love’. All the signs are there after all: True Love is magic; True Love is sacrifice. And they had done plenty of magic and sacrificing themselves for the other over the year since their first meeting.  
By this word’s standards, the trust, the meaningful looks they shared, the clear physical attraction, and the always open and honest dialogue, would all mean they shared deep romantic feelings.

But at the same time, all these things don’t mean anything, because Emma has never voiced any kind of feelings toward her. She hasn’t either, that’s true, but the blonde has been also quite cold toward her at times. She has also noticed how Emma keeps putting a greater physical distance between them whenever they are alone in the same room; by this time next week she is sure they would need some kind of magical object to be able to clearly hear what the other is saying.

That last thought causes Regina to refocus on her surrounding.  She looks around her empty office, before nodding to herself and using the phone on her desk to tell her secretary she’ll be out for the rest of the day.  
She needs to talk to Emma to clear once and for all what is or isn’t going on between them.

* * *

Regina is pacing up and down the docks, she has sent a text to Emma asking if she could meet her there. The sheriff has texted her almost immediately, saying she would be there in 10 minutes.

“Regina?” she calls out, approaching the other.

“Thank you for coming here.”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Can we…?” asks Regina, tilting her head toward the benches behind them.

“So…” starts the brunette once they are both sitting down.

“So?”

“There is something I have been meaning to ask you for a while now,” she confesses, looking down at her own hands.

“Okay!?” replies Emma, not knowing where this might be going.

“Do you have feelings for me?” Regina asks in one breath.

“Do I…” starts Emma, before awkwardly bursting into laughter “do I have feelings for you? I do have some kind of feelings for you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” says the blonde, feeling like her whole body is going to explode “I respect you, and I care for you. As a friend. We are friends, you know? And you are Henry’s mom, and…”

“Oh,” is all Regina can say, before she poofs herself away, feeling too exposed at the moment; and not being able to face the reality of having unrequited feelings for the blonde.

“Regina,” Emma yells out as purple smoke is enveloping the other woman. The last thing she sees is a tear running down her cheek.

* * *

This time it is Emma’s turn to be lost in her own thoughts trying to find an answer. She is still sitting on the bench a half-hour later, and she still can’t understand what has just happened.

Regina has asked her if she has feelings for her. Which she does, she so does. So, why on earth did she give her such a weird answer? Why did she say they were friends, when Regina was clearly asking about romantic feelings, and she has a lot toward the brunette?

She spends another half-hour asking herself all these questions, before realizing the real reason behind her response to what Regina has asked her.

* * *

Regina is back at her house, an untouched glass of cider in front of her. She is thinking about how glad she is to not having to show her now red eyes to anyone, when there is a knock at the front door.

She reluctantly gets up, cursing her usual bad luck.

“Regina,” exclaims the sheriff as soon as the other opens the door.

“Miss Swan,” says Regina, trying to recompose herself “what are you doing here?”

“Can I talk to you?”

“Please?” she adds, seeing the hurt Regina is trying so hard to hide.

The mayor thinks about it for a moment, before she lets the other inside the house.

Regina silently leads her in the kitchen, where she sits at the same chair she was seating just minutes before.

Emma seats opposite her at the table, and starts looking around the room, trying to find the right words.

“I was under the impression that you wanted to talk about something!?” says Regina in a cold voice.

“Can ?” asks the blonde instead, pointing at the cider.

Regina just nods in response, and looks at the other grab the glass and drink its content in one big gulp.

“What you asked me before,” says Emma, replacing the glass on the table “if I had feelings for you.”

“You don’t have to say anything about that,” replies Regina, feeling like she has a million needles in her stomach “you made how you feel very clear.”

“That was clear?!?”

“Yes.”

“How is that even possible?”

“You see me as your friend, and as Henry’s mom. Can’t get clearer than that.”

“I do see you as those things.”

“Did you come here just to make sure I heard you the first time?”

“But…”

“But?”

“But…” continues the blonde “I do have feelings for you. I do like you, Regina.”

“As a friend?”

“No,” says Emma firmly this time “as, I have romantic feelings for you, like you.”

“You do?” asks Regina surprised “why did you say those things at the docks then?”

“Because your question came out of the blue. Plus, I took some time to think about it and…”

“And?”

“I have realized I thought you’d never feel the same way about me. And I have been pushing all those feelings down for so long. I don’t know if you have noticed I have been trying to keep my distance.”

“Oh, trust me,” replies Regina with what sounds almost like a chuckle “I have noticed.”

“So,” continues Emma “When you asked me that question… well, I panicked.”

“Why wouldn’t I feel the same way though?”

“Because you are you,” admits Emma “and I am me.”

“What does that even mean?”

“You are… so amazing in everything you do. You are so resilient, and I admire your strength so much. Also, you are breathtakingly beautiful.”

“Oh, Emma…”

“What?”

“I can not imagine not having feelings for you. If someone had told me something like this would happen when you first showed up in town, I would have laughed at them. But now? I can not imagine not having those feelings for you. You are very brave and strong, too. And I find you absolutely stunning.”

“You really do think all those things?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry for the misunderstanding earlier.”

“It’s okay.”

They both smile at the other from across the table, before they both raise their hands to poof both of them at the docks again.

When the smoke created by their combined magic is completely gone from around them on the bench, they instinctively lean toward the other.

In the background, the sun is setting turning the sky into a beautiful mix of yellow and red, creating the perfect scenario for their first kiss.


	12. Chapter 12

‘Emma,no! There has to be another way!’ - ‘There isn’t! You’ve worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed.’ - The last words exchanged with Regina before taking in the darkness are still swirling around in her mind, when she hears a voice calling for her.  
The voice, which she thinks is all in her head, brings her back to the present.  
  
She looks down at her own hand, and almost flinches at the sight in front of her.  
  
“Emma, stop.”  
  
This time the voice is too loud to be coming from inside her head. She quickly turns around to find herself face to face with her parents.  
  
“Mom? Dad?” she says looking at their horrified faces.  
  
“Emma, please,” begs Snow, looking between the heart in her daughter’s palm and the red haired girl in front of her “don’t do it.”  
  
Emma releases all the pressure she was putting on the beating heart in her hand, but she doesn’t put it back in its place.  
  
“How did you get here?” she asks puzzled.  
  
“Regina,” simply states her mother.  
  
At the mere mention of the woman’s name, Emma looks around searching for her.  
  
Before she can ask where she is, she notices someone stepping out from behind her parents.  
  
“I’m here,” says Regina, as if she had just read her mind.  
  
The brunette is not standing next to Snow, her hands are moving in that particular way they do when she is nervous.  
  
Emma is about to ask her what’s wrong, when someone else steps out from behind her parents as well.  
  
“Henry?” she says, as she looks at her son standing tall next to his other mother “What are you doing here?”  
  
“I am your son,” he states in a matter of fact tone “we are your family and we came here to get you back.”  
  
She nods slightly at his words: the four people standing in front of her are indeed her family.  
  
“We came here using Granny’s as transportation, it’s a long story,” starts Regina, taking a few steps closer, speaking again as if she is reading her mind “your brother is in Sorybrooke with Belle.”  
  
She nods again, and takes a big gulp at the sight of Regina getting even closer.  
  
“Emma,” she says, placing a hand on Emma’s, the one that is still holding the heart “put it back.”  
  
Emma looks right into Regina’s eyes and does as she is being told. She can feel the pull of the darkness inside of her, but it is still not enough to not let her decide.  
  
“Thank you,” says Merida to Regina.  
  
“Go,” the brunette urges her, not knowing how the darkness in Emma is working.  
  
“She was going to help me,” Emma lets it trail off, as she watches Merida run away.  
  
“I am here now,” replies Regina in a reassuring tone “we’ll figure this out together. We always do.”  
  
Emma locks eyes again with the brunette and nods. She is grateful her family is there for her.  
  


* * *

  
  
“No, you listen,” exclaims Regina at Emma’s protests.  
  
Emma immediately stops talking, but then looks at the spot in Regina’s jacket where she is hiding the dagger.  
  
“It is easy for you to say.”  
  
“Sorry,” says Regina, taking out said dagger and placing it on the nearest table “better?”  
  
“Yes, thank you,” replies Emma taking a deep breath; being controlled in such a way isn’t a nice experience “you were saying?”  
  
“I had to lie to Arthur.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Because…” she starts, almost crying out “you already gave into the darkness because of me, I can’t let you keep doing it.”  
  
“I didn’t give into it because of power though, that should make a difference.”  
  
“I don’t think darkness cares about the reason behind your actions, the more you use dark magic the more chances it has to get a hold of you.”  
  
“Even if it was out of love?”  
  
Regina’s mouth hangs open in surprise.  
  
“It was out of love?” she asks, in the exact same way she had asked her ‘You thought we were friends?’ in her vault not too long ago.  
  
“It was,” says Emma firmly, being the Dark One has given her the last kick of boldness she needed “with you it’s always out of love. I love you, Regina.”  
  
“I love you too, Emma,” she replies without thinking “and that’s why I need you to let me do this. You saved me, now I save you. Remember?”  
  
“Yes,” agrees Emma at last “but if anything happens to my family, I will not care of the consequences.”  
  


* * *

  
  
“Who is that girl talking to our son?” asks Regina in the middle of their first dance.  
  
After having confessed their feelings for each other, it had only been logic to attend the ball together as a couple.  
  
“Let’s go found out?” proposes Emma.  
  
I like the way you think,” replies Regina, with a smirk.  
  
Halfway toward their son, a scene quickly unfolds in front of their eyes: one of the men working for Arthur getting a hold of Henry and putting a knife at his throat.   
  
They try to reach him as quickly as they can but men keep coming at them from all directions. Only a couple of them are holding Snow and Charming in place, but all the others’ main focus is to attack the two women.  
  
Both Emma and Regina try to use their magic in order to knock them down and get to their son, but nothing seems to be working.  
  
Not until Regina decides to reach for the heart of one of them and crushes it into her hand.  
  
In no time both women are crushing the heart of all the attackers, leaving a trail of dead bodies behind them.   
  
As they finally reach Henry, they both instinctively look around the ballroom: all around them are dead bodies, the other guests long gone by now, and them and their family are the only ones still standing.  
  
Emma and Regina check around the room one last time, before exchanging a knowing look and poofing all of them away.  
  
As they are doing so, they hear a last yell from Arthur, who is only now regaining consciousness from the punch received by Charming earlier, saying he’ll find them and kill them all.  
  


* * *

  
  
“You have to go,” says Emma as soon as they land into Granny’s diner.  
  
“We can’t leave you,” protests Snow.  
  
“Emma is right,” adds Regina “you need to take Henry home.”  
  
“I am not going to leave you either,” says Henry.  
  
“You have to,” says Regina firmly “we need to take care of this alone.”  
  
“Take him home, please,” she continues looking at Snow and Charming.  
  
“Go be with baby Neal,” says Emma.  
  
The three of them reluctantly  agree after a few more minutes of protesting.  
  
They have finished saying all the proper goodbyes, when Emma and Regina step out of the diner and Regina uses the wand to teleport them back to Storybrooke.  
  
“Did you…” starts Emma, when the flying diner is finally out of sight “did you feel it, too?”  
  
“The pull of the darkness?” asks Regina while nodding “I have never crushed so many hearts in such a short period of time.”  
  
“I have never crushed a heart before, let alone these many.”  
  
“It felt good, didn’t it?” asks the brunette with a smirk.  
  
“It did,” says Emma getting closer, before grabbing the other woman’s face and kissing her roughly.  
  
“We need a change of clothes,” exclaims Regina coming out of the kiss and looking at the dresses Snow had chosen for the both of them.  
  
“I agree,” says Emma, before raising her hand.  
  
A dark grey smoke disappears from their bodies, revealing Regina in one of her Evil Queen’s outfits, and Emma in a black almost snake looking like leather pantsuit.  
  
“See?” says Regina looking the other up and down “giving into darkness out of love doesn’t make a difference.”  
  
“I noticed,” replies Emma “but darkness looks good on us.”  
  
“I can’t argue with that,” agrees Regina, before mimicking the rough kiss she received earlier from the new Dark One.  
  
As they are deep into the kiss, grey smoke envelopes them again, but this time to poof them somewhere else.  
  


* * *

  
“If we hadn’t had sex like this before already,” says Emma almost breathless “I would have said that giving in into your dark side again had done something to your sexual appetite.”  
  
“Em-ma,” replies Regina “sex drives has nothing to do with darkness or being evil. That’s just gross men’s excuse to shame women for their natural instincts.”  
  
Emma can’t help but being in awe of Regina’s bluntness.  
  
“Any actual evil instinct you want to give into?” asks Emma, the room is practically dripping from the dark magic emanating from the two women.  
  
“How about we take care of Arthur once and for all?”  
  
“It’s like you have read my mind.”  
  
  
  
  
The same exact moment they poof themselves into Arthur’s castle, he is about to throw some kind of pink pixie dust at Guinevere.  
  
The landing of the two women, distracts him long enough for Guinevere to take the vial out of his hands and knock him out.  
  
“What are you waiting for?” she says as both Emma and Regina aren’t moving a inch “Didn’t you come here to kill him?”  
  
“Aren’t you going to stop us?” asks Regina, as Emma is already reaching for the man’s heart.  
  
“No,” says Guinevere simply, showing them the vial “he was using this to make me love him. It was all fake.”  
  
Emma and Regina exchange a knowing look, and they nod in understanding.  
  
“We should do this together,” says Emma to Regina, holding the almost all black heart between them “he did try to kill our son.”  
  
Guinevere is standing there looking at them crushing Arthur’s heart, moving their hands as they were one.  
  
“Thank you,” she says once she is sure they have killed him.  
  
“You can have everything you want, the castle, the realm. Anything,” she says almost out of the room they are standing in “it’s all fake, but you can have it. I have to go find Lancelot.”  
  
“Guinevere and Lancelot?” says Emma, tilting her head “Who would have thought?”  
  
“The Savior and the Evil Queen?” says Regina imitating the other woman’s voice “Who would have thought?”  
  
“Ex-Savior, now,” points out the Dark One “What do you say, your majesty? Do you want to rule a fake realm with me?”  
  
“I would love to,” replies Regina.  
  
  
They become quickly known everywhere as the two Queens with no mercy towards tyrants. Their ruling is either seen as the most terrifying or the fairest of them all; it all depends on who you ask.


	13. It was an accident. I was cooking…I’m not going to the hospital.

“Something smells nice in there,” Emma exclaimed before entering the kitchen.

Once in, she looked around the seemingly empty room. A bunch of pots and different ingredients where on the various countertops.

“Regina?” she called out at last.

“I’m here,” came her voice from the other side of the kitchen isle.

“What are you doing there?” asked Emma, only then noticing the half sliced tomato on the cutting board in the middle of the kitchen isle “hiding from someone?”

Before Regina could reply, Emma was standing right beside her, her voice reaching a unusual pitched tone.

“Regina? What happened? Is that blood? I am taking you to the hospital,” she said in one go, while kneeling besides the brunette, who was seating with her back against one of the kitchen cabinets.

“It was an accident. I was cooking…” replied Regina, showing her the hand covered in blood “I’m not going to the hospital.”

“Of course you are going to the hospital,” said Emma trying not to sound too panicky.

“I don’t want to,” said Regina with a pout, replacing the now bloody towel on her cut “Whale is the only doctor in this town. And him and his new hairstyle…”

“I don’t think his hairstyle is going to affect his ability to take care of you.”

“Well, that might be true,” she admitted reluctantly.

“Let’s go then,” said Emma, before putting her arm under Regina’s and pulling her up.  
  
“Why didn’t you call me anyway?”

“I wanted to,” replied Regina, using the other as a crutch while walking outside the house “but then I felt lightheaded, so I decided to sit there for a minute; and that’s when you walked in.”

“And you didn’t want to go to the hospital?” she exclaimed, raising her eyebrow; before helping Regina get into the bug.

“Well…” she replied, before Emma closed the car door.

“It’s not important now,” said the blonde once she was behind the wheel “we need to get you to the hospital.”

* * *

 

“How is my stubborn Queen doing?” asked Emma once Whale was out of the room.

“You just heard him,” replied Regina with a slight tilt of her head “three stitches, but I am good to go.”

“I did hear him. I was asking how you were feeling.”

“I am feeling okay,” she admitted, looking at her hand “now that I am all bandaged up.”

“You can say it,” Regina added immediately.

“Say what?”

“That you were right,” she said getting off the ER bed.

“Well, I was.”

“Happy now?”

“I am happy that you are feeling better,” said Emma while wrapping an arm around the other shoulders as they were walking out of the room.

“Thank you,” said Regina, putting the non bandaged hand on the other woman’s waist.

“For what?”

“Bringing me here,” she said looking at the hospital behind them; “I forgot how it was dealing with injuries without magic.”

“I noticed,” said Emma, before stopping in front of the bug, and placing a light kiss on Regina’s cheek “how about we go home and order pizza?”

“Sounds good to me,” replied Regina, before they both got into the car to head back home.


	14. Did you change all the clocks?

“Weren’t you going to change?” Emma asked entering their bedroom.

“I will,” replied Regina; she was sitting at the edge of the bed with a book in her hands “at 11.”

“What time is it now?”

“It’s 10:30.”

“How is that even possible?” she asked, placing her pjs on the bed “I got in the shower at almost 10:40.”

“See for yourself,” replied Regina turning a page of her book.

“I don’t think this is working,” she said looking at the bright red ‘10:31’ flashing on the alarm-clock on the nightstand.

Regina adjusted her reading glasses, and kept pretending to be too immersed in her book.

Emma walked to the other side of the room, picked up her cellphone, and scratched her head. It was impossible, she was sure it was later than 10:30 when she got into the shower. She took a last look at her phone, and then she walked outside the room without saying anything.

“Did you do that?” she asked walking into the bedroom five minutes later.

“Did what, dear?” asked Regina closing the book and placing it beside her on the bed.

“Did you change all the clocks?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” replied Regina nonchalantly.

“You did,” exclaimed Emma approaching the bed “you changed all the clocks in the house. Why did you do that?”

“I…”

“Oh my god…”

“What?”

“You are nervous to meet the parents, my parents,” said Emma sitting down next to Regina.

“I have met your parents,” replied the brunette “several times. Remember?”

“Yes,” said the blonde placing a hand on the other woman’s knee “but this is the first time since we got together. It’s brunch with the parents.”

“Can you please stop saying that?” protested Regina.

“Not until you admit you are nervous.”

“I am nervous.”

“What were you trying to do with the clocks thing?” asked Emma taking Regina’s hands into hers.

“Hoping we would be too late and we’d have to reschedule.”

“That nervous, uh?”

Regina just nodded and looked down at her own lap.

“How about now?” asked Emma after placing a few kisses on Regina’s hands.

“Better.”

“Now?” she asked after placing kisses along Regina’s right arm and before kissing her on the lips.

“Almost there,” said Regina with a smirk.

“How about you’ll get to say ‘Sorry I’m late’ as you enter their apartment?” proposed Emma, remembering the stories her girlfriend had told her about crashing her parents’ wedding “what time is it?”

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” said the brunette, reaching for her phone in her robe’s pocket “It’s 11:55.”

“We have to be at my parents’ at 12,” replied Emma getting off the bed “we are definitely going to be late now.”

Regina got off the bed as well, and with a flick of her hand she changed from her pjs into a beautiful red dress.

“Not necessarily,” she said with a smile, before stretching her hand in front of her.

The moment after Emma reached for Regina’s hand, a purple smoke enveloped them both to transport them outside Snow’s apartment.


	15. Do it and I’ll shave your eyebrows.

Regina opened her eyes slowly, and looked at the ceiling above her bed. It was a quiet Saturday morning, which meant they could sleep in as much as they wanted.  
She extended her right hand toward the other side of the bed, convinced she was going to find her girlfriend lying next to her, but she found it empty.

“Emma?” she called for her, her voice raspier and lower from having just woken up.

She position herself on her left side and looked at the alarm clock on her nightstand: it was only 9 o’clock, and her girlfriend was usually sound asleep at this time of the day, if she wasn’t working at the station. She was curious to know what she was doing. For that exact reason, as soon as she heard steps approaching the room, she closed her eyes again.

“Regina?” said Emma in a low voice, in order to make sure the other was still sleeping, without actually waking her up.

When she noticed she didn’t give any sign of being awake, she took her phone from her pjs’ pocket and started looking at it.

A few minutes later of complete silence, Regina opened her left eye a bit to take a quick pick of what was happening around her.

“Emma!” she exclaimed as she saw the phone pointed at her direction “Do it and I’ll shave your eyebrows.”

“Regina!” exclaimed the other back, while hiding her hands behind her back “You are awake.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I am not changing the subject,” replied the other, biting her lower lip “I just didn’t know you were awake.”

“And that’s why you were about to take a picture of me sleeping,” said Regina, sitting up on the bed “You know I don’t like that.”

“But I won’t show them to anyone else,” protested Emma.

“Like that time you showed it to Henry?”

“It was one time. He is our son, he has seen you sleep,” pointed out the other “plus, you looked so cute with your hair going in every direction.”

“You made fun of me for a whole month,” said Regina with a pout.

“Okay, okay,” said Emma, handing her the phone “you can check my photo gallery, I haven’t take one yet.”

“There is no need for that,” said the brunette, taking the phone anyway and putting it on the nightstand “If you say you didn’t take it, I trust you.”

“Hey,” said Emma, only then realizing what her girlfriend has said minutes before, taking her hand to one of her eyebrow “why shave them though?”

“I don’t know. I had just woken up,” said Regina furrowing her own brows “and they were there.”

“Thank you,” replied Emma, with a fake pout.

“Come back to bed?” said the other, patting the empty space besides her “What are you doing up so early on a Saturday morning?”

“I was about to make you breakfast.”

“Later?” said Regina, offering her her hand.

Emma took it and Regina pulled her on top of herself.

“Morning, your majesty,” said Emma as they were face to face.

“Good morning, Em-ma,” replied Regina, before they both leaned toward the other for a kiss.


	16. There’s a huge-ass spider on the ceiling.

It was a typical Saturday morning for Regina: she was at the stables taking care of the Mills’ horses. Somewhere between fighting fairytales characters trying to rule the town or simply destroy it, she had decided to get back on the horse; quite literally. After a while, she had hesitantly asked Henry if he wanted to learn as well. He had accepted immediately; overly enthusiastically, too. That’s how she had ended up having to take care of two horses. He usually wanted to help her, but that early in the morning was a big no from him. Regina didn’t mind at all; she enjoyed having some quiet time all to herself. 

Once she was done with her routine, she grabbed her things and she made her way out of the stables. On her way in, an hour or so earlier, the air was still a bit chilly and the early spring sun was barely perceptible. Now, the air felt definitely warmer on her face. She looked up, taking as much of the warmth as possible, and made a quick decision. She retraced her steps back to the stables, dropped her things on the floor, and used her magic to equip both herself and her horse, Clover. The whole winter had gone by without her being able to take her horse for a ride, she wasn’t going to let such a nice day go to waste. 

An half hour later, she was once again at the stables, feeling as happy as ever.

“Good job, Clover,” she said, patting the animal one last time, before placing her in her own stall once again.

The moment she decided to check her phone, even before changing her clothes back to her everyday ones, her smile turned into a frown. She had 5 missed calls from Emma, which were particularly unusual, especially that early in the morning. She hit the dial button again, hoping nothing had happened in those thirty minutes she had decided to be spontaneous. 

“Hey?” Emma answered at the second ring, her voice barely hearable through the phone “Regina?”

“Emma?” she replied in the almost same low tone “why are we whispering? is everything okay?”

“Remember how before falling asleep I told you I could hear a noise coming from the attic?”

“I was just about to fall asleep, when you kicked me in order to listen to the nonexistent noise, so yeah, I remember,” Regina replied, recalling the night before and the pain in her shin “what about it?”

“So,” started Emma, her voice a bit higher, but muffled by something this time “I went to the attic and…”

“And?”

“and… I can’t move.”

“What do you mean you can’t move?” asked Regina, worried. Her voice suddenly getting higher, causing the horses to get scared as well “are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not hurt.”

“Why can’t you move?”

“Because… there’s a huge-ass spider on the ceiling.”

“Where are you exactly?”

“On the floor, trying not to make sudden movements.”

“Let me get this right,” she said with a chuckle “you are on the attic floor, trying not to move, because there is a spider on the ceiling?”

“Yes,” Emma whined in response, her eyes focused on said spider.

“The strong and powerful Savior scared of a spider?”

“Regina!”

“Okay, okay. Don’t mo-,” she started saying, before realizing the irony of it “I mean, I’ll poof myself there in a second. Hold on.”

The moment she finished her sentence, she placed her phone back in her purse, and she did as she had just told the other woman. 

“Emma?” she called in the semi-dark attic “where are you?”

“Over here,” came her small voice a few feet away from her, her face slightly illuminated by her own phone now.

“Oh,” she exclaimed, at the sight of her wife on the floor “I see you now.”

“Careful,” Emma almost yelped “it is right there, next to your face.”

Regina carefully turned around, raised her hand in the direction of the spider, enveloping it in purple smoke.

“Did you kill it?”

“No, just poofed it somewhere else.”

“Siding with the enemy?” asked Emma in a playful tone, finally relaxing completely.

“Come on,” told her Regina, getting closer, and extending her hand to help the other up.

Emma took it gratefully, and stood up. As she did so, she looked Regina up and down.

“What are you wearing?” she questioned with a tilt of her head, slightly licking her lips.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Regina asked with a smirk, before making her way down the attic ladders. Emma followed her close behind, eager to know what she had missed.


	17. whose dog is that?

Walking on the sidewalk, followed close behind by the little yelper, she wondered how on earth she had gotten into this situation. Mary Margaret had begged with those big sad eyes of hers that made her wonder how Henry could ever think they were related. Besides the obvious ‘your mother isn’t supposed to be the same age as you’ one, she knew she would never be able to pull something like that. Make sad puppy eyes to someone just like that; could she?  
That was besides the point, because that was what had gotten her into this situation, and she secretly hated Mary Margaret for it.

“Can you do me a favor?” her roommate had started the night before.

She hadn’t even had the chance to reply, that she had started talking again.

“You know I’m volunteering to take David to all his doctor’s appointments , right? So, I called him at the animal shelter, to check for tomorrow morning, and he told me they got their schedule all messed up. At the same time as his visit, they scheduled for him to bring a lost dog back to the owner. He asked me if I knew someone who was available. You are free tomorrow, right? Can you do it?”

“Come again?” Emma had asked, she sure could talk a lot. Another thing that made her question Henry’s words. She wasn’t a big chatter, but of course nurture, or lack thereof, was a big part of that too.

“Can you reunite the dog with the owner?” And that’s when the big eyes had started. Of course Emma at this point couldn’t say no; and not just because she would stop talking if she had agreed. She didn’t even have the courage to tell her she wasn’t really good with dogs, or animals in general. She had been too caught off guard by those eyes, that she hadn’t even made a joke about her and David. Because of course she knew her roommate was having an affair with the man recently out of a coma.

While mentally trying to come up with a funny joke for the next time, she was suddenly brought back to the real world by a louder bark.

“Crap,” she said loudly, looking down at the leash wrapped around her leg. She didn’t know how the little devil had been able to do so without her noticing, but now she needed to get out of it.

“Okay, I’m gonna free myself now. And you are going to stop barking. Deal?”

The dog did a head tilt, but went right back to barking. How can such a small thing make so much noise, anyway?

“Whatever,” she continued, kneeling down. At least the other leg hadn’t been trapped.

Just as she was about to get up after a few minutes of trying to free herself while avoiding being bitten in the process, she heard heels coming from behind her. At the sound, she got up even quicker, knowing (and hoping) who those belonged to.

“Whose dog is that?” said woman asked with pursed lips.

“Good Morning to you, Madam Mayor,” she almost beamed at the sight, but opted for a half smirk at the last second.

‘Keep your cool, Swan’ she thought to herself. A hand tightly holding the leash, the other deep in her back pocket.

“If you say so, Miss Swan. Now, I think I have asked you a question.”

“Uh?”

“Whose dog is that?” Regina asked again, speaking slowly now, as if she was talking to an idiot.

“Oh? This?” she asked pointing at the dog now quietly sitting at her side “woah. Did you do that?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“The dog. She was barking like a maniac before you got here.”

“Do I look like a patient person, Miss Swan?” she said, folding her arms.

Emma tilted her head, thinking that no she did not look like one at that exact moment, then mentally facepalmed herself for always being so distracted around the woman. Did her kid’s mom had to be so attractive, all the time?

“The dog. Right. She is Miss - Mrs- hold on,” she took out a piece of paper from her pocket with the name written along side the address “Miss Ride's?”

“Miss Ride?” Regina repeated, a face of someone deep in thought “I didn’t know she had a dog.”

“What? Need to keep a tab on everyone in town, even the animals? I can understand the man who was too interested in the kid,” she said with a chuckle, almost saying ‘our kid’ “but dogs. Really?”

At the single raised eyebrow from the other woman, Emma’s expression changed immediately.

“I have been told she was lost. Happy now?”

“No, I’m not happy. It took you long enough to give me a simple answer,” the tone felt less severe this time, but she wasn’t sure “tired of being a sheriff already?”

“Me? No, it’s my day off, and I’m doing David Nolan a favor,” she didn’t have time to explain her roommate’s love life “is the interrogation over?”

“Not quite,” a hint of challenge in her eyes “how come you haven’t taken that horrible car of yours? Miss Ride’s house is 20 blocks away.”

“Princess here didn’t want to get into the bug,” she replied, rolling her eyes at the seemingly well behaved dog.

Regina scoffed, before kneeling down and start petting the dog.

“I can’t blame you. I wouldn’t have gotten into it either,” she was saying, with the sweetest voice Emma had ever heard. As if she needed another reason not to hate her. Not that she did hate her, anyway; she was mildly annoyed by her, at best.

“What was that?” she asked instead.

“What was what?” Regina said, looking up, the dog enjoying her attention.

“That scoff.”

“You didn’t strike me as someone who knew much about Princesses.”

“Well, if you must know... I think I have dated a few.”

Regina looked up again, furrowed her brows, and then stood up.

“Is that so?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“As if you haven’t been with a few women yourself,” Emma was the one scoffing this time.

“Miss Swan...”

“I know, I know,” she said raising her free hand “that is no way to speak to the Mayor.”

“No, I meant...” Regina simply pointed at the dog with a leg in the air peeing a few inches away from Emma’s leg.

“This little shit,” Emma almost jumped at the sight “I thought he was a she, have been calling him ‘Princess’ for half an hour now.”

“Maybe he is a Princess, have you thought of that?”

“Yeah, I suppose. It’s the only name he has been reactive to. Not even his own.”

“What’s his name?”

“Sheep?”

“That’s because you are saying it wrong. It’s probably Shep.”

At the sound of his own name, the dog tilted his head and sat down.

“Who’s a good boy?” asked Regina kneeling down again.

“Woah. You are good,” pointed out Emma.

After a couple of minutes, Regina got up again. Emma had never seen her this happy before. Maybe with Henry, but the kid was so hostile, she always detected a hint of sadness as well.

“May I?”

“What?”

“Get the leash? You are clearly incapable of doing this on your own.”

“You want to walk 20 blocks with me?”

“With Shep. You must tag along, I suppose?” She asked with a clearly playful tone now.

“I suppose,” Emma repeated trying to mimic the playful tone, while giving her the leash.

“Shall we?”

She simply nodded in her response, placing both hands in her back pockets.

“Oh, and Miss Swan?” Regina said after they had been walking for a few blocks or so.

“Yeah?”

“I prefer Queens,” she said with a smirk “or Knights. Either one of both genders.”

Then she winked, and started walking at a slighter faster pace, clearly to leave the other woman behind.

Emma simply stood there looking at Regina walk ahead of her, her mouth slightly open. She was happy she didn’t have the leash in her hand, because she would have let it go for sure.

She stood for a few more seconds, before shaking her head to bring herself to reality. She then quickened her pace, trying to keep up with Regina. She needed to know what was that all about, and she needed to know immediately.


	18. I’m gonna need you to calm down.

“Hey, sleepyhead!”  
  
“Hey,” replied Regina with a groggy voice “how long have I been asleep?”  
  
“Two hours, give or take,” said Emma, glancing at her for a moment, then focusing on the road.  
  
Regina nodded, rubbed her eyes still half asleep, then looked out the car window.  
  
“Are we going to make a...” she started, recognizing their surroundings.  
  
“... pit stop at Hardee’s?” Emma finished for her “of course. I was going to wake you up in 5 minutes when we were in the parking lot.”  
  
Regina smiled gratefully at that; her stomach making it known it was grateful as well.  
  
“Hey,” said Emma, turning around at the red light “we are going to eat soon enough.”  
  
“How come you are not hungry?” she questioned, re-positioning herself on the seat “you are always hungry.”  
  
“Had a snack while you were snoring it out,” she replied, as she continued driving at the green light “found a Snickers bar in the glove compartment.”  
  
“How long has it been there?”  
  
Emma simply shrugged in response, she hadn’t even thought about it at the moment. She was simply too hungry.  
  
“And, I don’t snore,” Regina added, looking out the window again.  
  
“Yes, you do. Ask Henry.”  
  
“How does he know...,” she started, then snapping her head toward her girlfriend’s direction “if I do snore, I do not snore that loudly.”  
  
“Keep telling yourself that,” said Emma, finally parking in front of Hardee’s.  
  
“Emma,” exclaimed Regina a bit too loudly.  
  
“Okay, okay,” she said, putting her car keys into her jacket pocket “I won’t say that again.”  
  
“No, I’m stuck.”  
  
“What do you mean you are stuck?” she asked as she turned around.  
  
“I can’t open the seat-belt,” the panic in her voice increasing rapidly.  
  
“Well? Don’t just stare. Do something,” she continued “I knew this metal coffin of wheel was going to kill me soon enough.”  
  
“Okay,” Emma said in a firm voice “I’m gonna need you to calm down.”  
  
“Why?” Regina asked, still unsuccessfully pushing the button on the belt buckle, her panic through the roof.  
  
“So, I can,” she replied, getting a bit closer “help you out of it.”  
  
She got close enough to better examine the object in question, then smiled.  
  
“See?” she said, while pulling at a piece of clothing and finally freeing Regina from the seatbelt “your shirt had simply got stuck into it.”  
  
“I hate this car.” She was pouting now.  
  
“No, you don’t,” Emma replied with a light chuckle, then she placed a small kiss on Regina’s nose “come on. I’ll buy you ice cream.”  
  
“I’m not a kid, you know?” she said with a roll of her eyes.  
  
“Okay,” she conceded, while opening the door on her side of the car “no ice cream for you then.”  
  
“I did not say that,” Regina protested, while opening her own door.  
  
“Hey, I did not say that,” she repeated, as she hadn’t gotten a reply; but Emma was already out of the car, trying not to laugh too hard.


	19. I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. That’s the problem.

She was walking toward what had been her last resort to find the other woman. She had gone to the vault first, she was sure that’s where she’d be after the day’s events. The place was completely empty, and felt as cold as it ever did.

Her second stop had been at the mansion: she had rang the bell, only to be welcomed by an odd look from their son at the clear worry on her face. He had told her to go check the office, that she was probably there.

She had indeed tried town hall next, only to find out there was not a single soul in the whole building. She made a mental note to look more into it as soon as possible.

Then that’s when she remembered what Snow had told her before she had started this long quest to find the other woman: the last place she had seen her was at Granny’s.

The diner was exactly where she was heading.

“Granny,” she said, trying to force a warm smile “have you seen Regina?”

“Over there,” Granny tilted her head toward the booth at the very back “she ordered a glass of whiskey, I don’t think she has touched it yet.”

“Thank you,” this time the smile was genuine.

“Regina,” she said softly, as she was standing beside the booth.

Regina slowly looked up, her eyes widening a bit. And then without warning she just sprinted off in front of her and out the door.

She immediately followed close behind.

“Regina,” she repeated as she closed the door behind her.

“Emma, please,” she replied, without turning around.

“Listen to me, please?”

Regina stopped in her tracks, still not turning around, but giving the impression that she was open to listen to what she had to say.

“Okay. I know it’s all my fault again,” Emma said, she had thought of a million ways to say this while she was looking for her. In the end she had opted for the simplest one of all “I know it’s like the third time you have lost Robin because of me. And sure it wasn’t the Robin you knew, but if it hadn’t been for me…”

At those words Regina turned around, tears in her eyes.

“… I know you probably hate me right now,” she finished, taking a few steps closer.

“I don’t hate you,” Regina whispered.

“What?”

“I don’t hate you,” she repeated, now looking at the ground “I could never hate you. That’s the problem.”

“I don’t understand,” Emma replied with a tilt of her head “you are clearly hurt. It has got to be because you lost Robin, and if you hadn’t come to get me, you wouldn’t have lost him again.”

“I came to get you,” she said, looking up “I came there for you.”

“I know,” she furrowed her brows “I’m trying to apologize for that.”

“You don’t understand.” Tears of frustration were falling from Regina’s eyes.

“Then explain me, please?” Emma got even closer, trying to read the truth into sad brown eyes.

“I came there for you, Emma,” she repeated, adding the name for extra emphasis “only you. I don’t care about Robin.”

“You don’t?” she asked, more confused than ever “why are you crying then?”

“Because you are with him,” Regina blurted out “and I love you, you idiot.”

“You… you…” Emma started, completely shocked now. Then she walked past Regina and toward the diner’s gate.

Regina was sure she was simply walking away, but she turned around to see it with her own eyes nonetheless. What she saw was not what she expected: Emma was now sitting at one of the outdoor tables.

“You love me?” she asked, looking up from her sitting position; her face clearly pale.

“I do,” she said, there was no denying it anymore.

Emma nodded slightly, then gestured her to sit at the table.

“You love me?” She asked again, putting the emphasis on the ‘me’.

“Look,” Regina replied, once she was sitting down opposite her “I can take it back. I know you are with…”

“No,” Emma interrupted her.

“No?”

“No. I…” she started, then looked at her own left hand.

Regina followed her gaze, and watched as Emma slipped the ring off her finger and placed it on the table between them.

“You really do love me?”

“I do.”

“Regina, I…” she started again.

“Do you need some time?”

“Please?” she asked, with those big puppy eyes of hers. She did love Regina, more than she had ever dared to admit herself. She simply didn’t want to say it the first time when she felt pressured into it. Not with her. With her things were going to go differently… hopefully.

“Take all the time you need,” Regina said, looking for a split moment at the ring, and then into green eyes.

“Thank you,” she replied, a small smile starting to form on her face. She was glad Regina understood and respected her wishes.


	20. There’s no going back if we do this.

“Are you sure?”  
  
“Yes!”  
  
“100% positive?”  
  
“As I said before: yes, I am.”  
  
“There’s no going back if we do this,” replied Emma with a smirk “you know?”  
  
“Why are we being so formal?” Regina questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Next thing I know, you are asking me to sign a contract.”  
  
“Because we are switching sides on the bed,” she stage whispered “you are giving me your side of the bed.”  
  
“And you are giving me yours.” Regina folded her arms and looked at said bed.  
  
“Yeah, but this was your bed first.”  
  
“And now it’s ours. I said I am okay with it.”  
  
“Okay,” Emma said smiling widely “wait, you didn’t actually want a contract, did you?”  
  
“Emma!”  
  
“Okay, okay,” she said, raising her hands “let’s get to sleep?”  
  
“Finally.”  
  
Emma got on the bed first, laying down on the left side, Regina’s former side. She brought the covers up to her knees, and folded her arms behind her head on the pillow. The pillow that smelled so much of Regina, she took a small whiff of it.  
  
“Coming?”  
  
Regina climbed on the bed, she looked at the empty right side first, then at her girlfriend. She smirked to herself, and before Emma could question it, she was curling up next to her, bringing the covers up to her chest. Under the covers she wrapped an arm around Emma’s waist, and she positioned her head on her chest.  
  
“Cheat,” she said in a playful voice.  
  
“You never said anything about no cuddling next to you.”  
  
“I really should’ve made you sign a contract.”  
  
“Maybe you should have, dear,” Regina replied with a chuckle.  
  
“You are lucky I love you,” Emma said bringing her arm down to wrap around her girlfriend.  
  
“Am I?” she asked, re-positioning herself at the other’s movement.  
  
“Yes, you are. And I am the luckiest to have you.”  
  
“That’s what I thought,” Regina said, before kissing her right on the shoulder.  
  
Emma kissed her on top of the head, and smiled to herself.  
  
“And… I love you too,” Regina continued moments later.


	21. I can’t stand the thought of losing you.

“Emma, wait,” she called out with no results.

She was following after her almost running, and still she wasn’t able to keep up. Of course having to jump over puddles here and there didn’t help either. Because, of course, it had to start raining out of nowhere. When she was with no umbrella, and following after Emma. She didn’t even know what she was going to tell her, all she knew was that she needed to stop her first.

“Emma,” she repeat with all the strength left in her.

Emma turned around, finally, under that big yellow of hers, and looked in her direction. The moment she realized she was standing in the middle of the sidewalk with her hair wet, she ran toward her.

“Regina?” she asked as she got closer, covering the other with her umbrella “is everything okay?”

“Emma,” she repeated in a trembling voice “you need to listen to me.”

“I’m all ears, what’s up?”

Regina couldn’t understand how she could look so calm. Not after what Snow had told her Emma was planning on doing.

“How are you just… okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“Snow called me. She told me what you told her.”

“Oh?!” Emma tilted her head “I would have preferred to tell you myself, but I still don’t understand what the big deal is.”

“You don’t?” Regina asked, embracing herself, her lower lip starting to tremble as well “how can you be so inconsiderate?”

“Hold on. What did she tell you?”

“She said you were leaving, Emma,” she answered, looking away “I… I just can’t…”

“What?”

“I can’t stand the thought of losing you,” she said at last, still unable to look her in the eye.

“How are you going to lose me?” Emma asked, genuinely confused.

“You are leaving…”

“Hey, look at me!”

Regina tilted her head up to meet the other woman’s eyes.

“I am not leaving,” she said, placing a hand on her shoulder “I don’t know what Snow told you, but all I am doing is looking for my own apartment. Seems like it’s time, isn’t it?”

“You are not leaving Storybrooke?”

“Why would I leave Storybrooke?”

“Snow said something about you needing space, and…. oooh, now it’s all clear.”

“Yeah! So, you ran after me, with this pouring rain, because you thought I was leaving town?”

“No, I did all this,” she said, pointing at her wet clothes and hair “all this, for nothing.”

“I wouldn’t say nothing,” Emma replied with half a smirk.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for starters I now know that you don’t want to lose me,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

“You weren’t supposed to know that.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” she let it trail off, looking at the ground again.

“Regina,” Emma said in a pleading voice.

The moment Regina looked up, she let go of the big yellow umbrella, and cupped her face in her hands.

“May I?”

“Yes,” Regina just loudly enough, the touch of the other woman’s hands on her face already giving her butterflies.

Emma leaned over and brushed her lips against hers. The kiss started slow and soft, then it deepened as they both got more secure of what they were actually doing. The butterflies now felt like they were flying between their bodies; dancing even. Regina imagined them as beautiful rainbow colored ones. Like one of those rare double rainbows that appear after the rain. And even if the rain hadn’t actually stopped, and they were getting soaking wet, that’s what the kiss was making her feel. And there was nothing else that mattered in that moment.


	22. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.

Emma was finally enjoying her first day off work after a long and tiring week. She was sitting on Regina’s couch, an old movie was on the tv in front of them. Her attention wasn’t on said movie though, she had seen it multiple times before; her attention was on Regina. The other woman was leaning her head on her shoulder, while she had an arm wrapped around her. She was almost starting to doze off, when…

“Emma?” she called her, without removing her eyes from the monitor.

“Uh?” Emma replied, startling a little.

“Would you ever write me a letter?” Regina asked, tilting her head to look at her now. The couple in the movie sent each other handwritten letter throughout the entire duration of it, that’s where the question was coming from.

“Well, I…” she answered, her cheeks turning pinkish.

“What?” she asked, sitting up and looking her in the eye.

“I actually did write you a letter once.”

“When?” Regina questioned, raising her eyebrow “I am positive I never received one from you before.”

“I never said I gave it to you,” said Emma, bringing a hand to the back of her head, her face turning almost red now.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember when I was seeing Archie?”

Regina nodded in response, she did remember indeed. It was when Emma was having those visions of her dying in the middle of Main Street.

“This one time, he, uh… “ she started, licking her dry lips, before continuing “I had to write a letter to someone I loved, and well…”

They had been together for a while now, they were both used to telling each other ‘I love you’. Hearing that she had loved her even back then, surprised her a bit.

“Yes?”

Emma lifted herself up from the couch just enough to grab her wallet out of the back pocket (Regina still didn’t get how it fit there, considering how skinny her jeans always were) and took a piece of paper out of it.

“Here,” she said, handing it to Regina.

“I can read it?”

“Yeap.”

‘Dear Regina,’ that’s how the letter started - with a ‘my’ crossed before it - ‘I don’t know why you are the first person I thought about when Archie asked me to this. Me? Can you imagine? Writing a letter… which I guess I am doing right now haha…. You are probably thinking ‘what an idiot!’  
Well, I mean, if you ever get to read it. Which is probably never going to happen.’

When she got at this point, Regina leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, then she went back to reading.

‘Anyhow… I just wanted to tell you that I think you are really the best person I know. You are so strong, and yet so warm and thoughtful. You are a rock to both me and Henry, I don’t know what we’d do without you. You are the only person (besides our kid) who always believes in me. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and I’m pretty sure the most beautiful person out of all the realms. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. Oh, god… I think I’m in love with you…’

That’s where the letter ended; no ‘Emma’ at the end or anything, either.

Regina looked up from the piece of paper, a warm smile on her lips.

“Did you have to show this to Archie?” she asked.

“No. Well, yes… that’s why I wrote another one for Henry, and kept this hidden since…”

‘… since I realized,’ should have been the rest of the sentence, but Regina understood without her saying it out loud. She leaned over once more, kissing her softly on the lips this time.

“What did you write Henry?”

“Just how much I was grateful for that day he brought me home,” Emma replied with a big goofy smile “and how much I loved him and our little family.”

“So, I was still in there somehow?”

“You always are,” she said firmly, before wrapping her arms around Regina, and kissing her on top of her head “Forever.”


	23. I want you and I know you want me too.

The moment she heard footsteps coming down the stairs, she knew who was approaching. She didn’t turn around to welcome them, she simply kept her eyes focused on the mirror in front of her.  
  
“What. do. you. want?” she asked punctuating every word the moment the other woman’s reflection appeared behind her in the mirror. They had been fighting for one thing or another. She wasn’t even sure why they were fighting in that moment; the only thing she was sure of was that in the past two weeks she had find every possible excuse to be mad at the Savior.  
  
“I want you.”  
  
“Excuse me?” she asked finally turning around.  
  
“You know, Regina?” said Emma, standing in the middle of her vault, hands on her hips “You always tell me I’m oblivious to things right in front of my nose, but you are giving me a run for my money right now.”  
  
“Miss Swan,” Regina replied, crossing her arms “what do you want from me?”  
  
“I told you: I want you,” she repeated “and my name is Emma.”  
  
“Emma…” she almost whispered.  
  
“I want you and I know you want me too.”  
  
“I… we… we can’t,” Regina said, lowering her eyes and focusing on Emma’s boots.  
  
“We can’t?” she asked, tilting her head “why the hell not? I know you do want me. I can feel it…”  
  
Regina looked up again at those last words, her eyes filled with a kind of sadness Emma had never seen before.  
  
“Okay, I’m sorry,” she continued “I’m acting like an asshole. I thought I was right about this, but… I’m clearly not.”  
  
She turned on her heels, placing her thumbs inside her back pockets ready to leave the vault. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, without looking back.  
  
“Wait,” Regina said in a whisper.  
  
“Emma,” she added a bit more loudly before the other woman would completely disappear from her view.  
  
“Yes?” Emma asked, turning around, an hopeful smile on her lips.  
  
“You are right,” she said, rolling her eyes.  
  
“Which part?” Her smile turning into a cocky one.  
  
“All of it: I do want you! I just…”  
  
“What?”  
  
“I just can’t…” she started, fidgeting with her hands “Everyone I get close to dies. I can’t let it happen to you too.”  
  
“It’s not like I have a better track record when it comes to that,” Emma said with a chuckle, then immediately turned serious as she saw the worry in Regina’s eyes “it won’t happen this time… not to me… and not to you.”  
  
“How can you be so sure?”  
  
“Because I know you. I know us. We always find a way. And…”  
  
“And?”  
  
“I’d rather die than have any harm come to you.”  
  
“See? That’s what I am talking about. You can’t just keep sacrificing yourself for me.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“Haven’t you been paying attention?” Regina rolled her eyes again, the worry still present “I don’t want anything happening to you.”  
  
“That is exactly why I am so sure. I know you won’t let anything happen to me, either. I know we will do this as we do everything else…”  
  
“… together?”  
  
“Damn right!”


	24. I love you. I’m completely and utterly in love with you. Please don’t get married.

‘I love you. I’m completely and utterly in love with you. Please don’t get married.’ She had had those words stuck in her throat… stuck in her head, ever since Emma had showed her the ring. She hadn’t even showed her, to be fair. Zelena had asked her about it, and she had answered as if it had been the most normal thing in the world. Why wouldn’t it be, anyway? They were together, he was living at her house. Even though it was always referred to as her house. Even though Emma had said she ‘kinda’ lived with the pirate. How do you kinda live with someone? And of course she had to play it cool, as cool as she possibly could. She had had to hug it out, they were best friends now, weren’t they? Not that either of them had ever said it, it was just something that had gotten into everyone else’s mind. Because two women fighting villains and using magic together must be the best of friends, right? Two women who shared a son had to be… friends? Had it ever occurred to them that maybe, maybe they could be something more? True love was magic after all… and now she was raving in her own head. Raving because she was trying to find the courage to stop this nonsense. It hadn’t been that long since he had proposed, and since he had proposed once again in front of her. How dare he? She had looked away as fast as she could the moment she had realized what he was about to do. Her heart couldn’t take it… couldn’t fail to notice how uneasy and unhappy Emma had seemed from that moment on. Or even before that, she had looked on the verge of tears more times than not. The Emma Swan who had challenged her in every possible way, who had fought for her and their son with everything she had… Now she was raving again… Now, now she was looking at her walk down the aisle, with both parents at her side, looking nothing like the woman she knew. The woman that she knew was still there somehow. She was positive of that, she had had a glimpse of her every time they were away from the pirate, away from everyone else… it had happened in the mirror. It had happened in the Wish-realm as soon as she had gotten her memories back… she knew Emma Swan was still there somehow. She needed to do something. Stop this whole charade first for Emma’s sake, and then to be sure… be absolutely sure that what she felt they shared had been mutual.  
  
“… or forever hold your peace,” Archie was now saying.  
  
That was her cue, now or never… She looked at them for a moment: Emma looked as pale as ever, he looked like someone who was now winning a prize… an object. In the background Archie had a thigh smile, he was probably hoping no-one would say anything. ‘Sorry, Archie,” she thought ‘I’ll make it up to you later.’  
  
“I object,” she said, getting on her feet, her legs feeling like butter.  
  
“What the bloody hell did you say?” exclaimed the pirate, with every last bit of his usual nonexistent tact.  
  
“I’m not talking to you, guyliner. Can you shut up for a moment?” Regina replied, still standing, even if a bit shaky now. She heard a few ‘yeah’ coming from among the other guests, causing Emma to finally look up and in her direction; her eyes wide.  
  
“This is my bloody we-,” he failed to finish the sentence, somehow finding himself unable to utter another single word.  
  
“Let her talk,” Emma said firmly, she had clearly used magic on him.  
  
“I…” she looked around now, Henry on her side was looking at her with a proud grin, encouraging her to keep going. Snow was… she was crying? Crying and nodding at her. Charming had almost the same smile as Henry. Zelena had a smug smile on her face “I can not stand the idea of you marrying him, Emma.”  
  
“I… I simply can’t. And it’s not just because you are too good for him. It’s not just the fact that you have been clearly unhappy since the moment you have started dating him,” she continued, stopping to take a deep breath, she felt a bit dizzy.  
  
“Why then?” Emma asked her, that challenging fire was already back in her eyes.  
  
“Because… because I think you are the most impossible person in every realm. You are so annoyingly brave and strong. You are… you are the only person I love as much as I love our son. There, I said it… I love you. And for some weird reason, I think you love me too.”  
  
At those words, Hook was trying to move toward Regina, but Emma had stopped him in his track. Not using magic this time, she simply held a hand in front of him.  
  
“You do?” she asked Regina instead, looking at her with sad eyes.  
  
“I do.” The irony of her response crystal clear in her mind. “If I’m wrong about your feelings for me, I still believe you deserve better than him.”  
  
Why had she chickened down now? And why did Emma look at her with those big sad eyes. Was she sad at the idea of rejecting her own best friend?  
  
“Oh, Regina…” Emma said, moving away from her spot at the altar, but still not getting close enough to her “of course I love you, Regina. I have for a while now. I just… I just thought I wasn’t enough for you. I never thought you could feel the same way for me.”  
  
“Do you think I’d simply wish to be in the same place as anyone else just to save them?” Regina asked now, shaking her head. Because of course with them it didn’t stop at the ‘I love you.’  
  
“Yes, yes you would,” said Emma, without having to think about it twice. She failed to see Regina as anything but a hero now.  
  
She noticed a few people nodding in agreement.  
  
“What are you waiting for? Kiss her,” someone else shouted, it almost sounded like Granny.  
  
They locked eyes now: Regina tilting her head in question, Emma slightly nodded in agreement. And that’s when they met halfway, as they always did for everything else.  
  
“Wait,” said Emma, before raising her hand and making more comfortable clothes appear in place of the suffocating dress “Are you going to kiss me now?”  
  
Regina chuckled, and leaned over, wrapping her arms loosely around her neck. She didn’t even need to get on her tiptoes since she was wearing heels. She started by pecking her lips softly, then they both transitioned into a deeper kiss. Emma wrapped her arms around Regina’s waist. People around them started clapping, some of them even whistled.  
  
“Pay up.” They heard Granny say as they kept kissing. Grumpy cursed in response, causing everyone else to laugh.  
  
“What the-” started saying Hook from his spot, having regained his voice.  
  
“I’ve got it, sis,” said Zelena promptly.  
  
“Thank you,” mouthed Regina in her direction. Then the both of them, with their arms still wrapped around each other, looked as Zelena made herself and the pirate disappear into green smoke.  
  
A moment later, Henry was approaching them, enveloping them in a big family hug.  
  
“Took you long enough,” he said.


End file.
